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BEES, PIGEONS, RABBITS, 

AND 

THE CANARY BIRD, 

FAMILIARLY DESCRIBED! 

THEIR HABITS, PROPENSITIES, AND DISPOSITIONS EXPLAINED 'y 

MODE OP TREATMENT IN HEALTH AND DISEASE PLAINLY 

LAID DOWN ; AND THE WHOLE ADAPTED AS A 

TEXT-BOOK FOR THE YOUNG STUDENT. 

BY PETER BOSWELL, OF GREENLAW. 



WITH AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAININU DIRECTIONS FOR THE CARE OF SEVERAL 

AMERICAN SINGING-BIRDS. 



NEW- YORK : 

WILEY AND PUTNAM. 

1842. 



,.415 

1^ r ! '„ 



TO THE READER. 

In rearing or breeding the Canary, the Bee, the Pi- 
geon, or Rabbit, no failure can take place if attention 
is paid to the regulations we have herewith record- 
ed. Experience is perhaps the best school in which 
practical knowledge is obtained. This was the aca- 
demy in which we ourselves were taught. To ano- 
ther school we have now endeavoured to introduce 
our youthful readers, where, by leaving the theory, 
we hope to have given them a light to guide them in 
the gratification of their innocent and favourite 
amusements. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Greenlaw, 1842. 



J. p. Wright, Printer, 13 New Street, New York. 

By l^Bfister 
Oept, of ii^cialttire 
OCr i ? 1940 



2(f 



CONTENTS. 



THE BEE. 

Page 
i. Natural History of the Bee. 9 

2. Swarming. ........ 19 

3. Hives — different kinds generally in use, &c. . . 25 

4. Ventilators and Thermometers. . . . . .31 

5. Feeding Apparatus, ....... 33 

6. Miscellaneous Management. . . , . .34 

THE PIGEON. 

1. Nature of the Pigeon. 41 

2. Political view of the Pigeon 42 

3. Varieties — The Slock Dove — Wood Pigeons — Tum- 

biers — Carriers — Pouters — Horsemen — Dragoons — 
Fantail — Jacobine, &c. 45 

4. Diseases of Pigeons. ....,, 59 

5. Laws in England regarding Pigeons. . . .59 

6. Economy of Pigeons. ...... 63 

7. The Dove Cote 66 

8. Matching, or Pairing and Breeding of Pigeons. . . 71 

9. Food of Pigeons , . .74 

10. Uses of Pigeons. ....... 76 



VUJ 



CONTENTS. 



THE RABBIT. 

Page 
Introductory Remarks. . . . . ^ .77 

1. The Wild Rabbit. ....*..* .* 80 

2. Common Domestic Rabbits. . . , . .81 

3. Lop-eared or Fancy Rabbit 83 

4. Colour of Rabbits 86 

5. The Rabbit Hutch 90 

6. Feeding. ........ 95 

7. Breeding. ...,,.... 99 

8. Diseases. ...,.,, . 102 

9. General Observations 103 



THE CANARY BIRD. 



1. Origin. 

2. Varieties. 

3. Matching. 

4. Pairing. 

5. Breeding. 

6. Mule Breeding. 

7. Feeding. 

8. Cages. 

9. Building. 

10. Sex. 

11. Singing. 

12. Teaching. 
13 Diseases. 



109 
HI 
117 
122 
129 
134 
139 
140 
143 
144 
146 
148 
150 



APPENDIX. 

American Mocking-Bird. — The Robin. — Indigo Bird. — 
American Yellow-Bird. — Purple Finch, or Linnet. . 161-4 



THE BEE. 



1, Natural History of the Bee. — Providence, that 
delights in spreading beneficence as well as beauty 
over all creation, has wisely formed the bee as an* 
humble but active and untiring agent, in gathering 
up for the most important purposes, and converting 
to the most valuable use, the scraps and fragments 
of nature which would otherwise be scattered by the 
" viewless winds," and spread through the " ambient 
air." She has adorned the song of the poet, point- 
ed the tale of the moralist, and furnished food to the 
hungry in the desert. Virgil calls the bee a ray of 
the divinity ; Plutarch pronounced her a magazine 
of virtues ; Quintilian asserts that she is the great- 
est of geometricians ; and Watts, by calling in poe- 
try to the aid of morality, has rendered her figure 
the means of interest, improvement, and delight to 
many a youthful mind. Philosophy has stooped to 
examine her habits and to watch over her haunts ; 
she has presented the models of science and called 
forth the attention of scientific men; by her the hus- 
bandman has been cheered when sitting in his cot- 
tage garden, in his evening reflections on his day of 
2 



10 THE BEE. 

toil ; and in whatever light she maybe viewed, there 
is none who can declare that he has no interest in 
hor ways. 

The bee, or honey-fly, according to naturalists, 
belongs to the fourth order of insects, and has four 
wings — the community or hive containing three 
kinds, namely, the queen, or mother-bee, the drone, 
and the working-bee. 

To the queen, or mother^of the whole community, 
it is necessary for the bee-master to give the strict- 
est attention, as, without a queen, it is useless to 
possess a hive, since neither can the generation of 
fresh swarms proceed, nor will those which may be 
present, labour, but will either emigrate, languish or 
die. The queen-bee is to be distinguished from the 
others by her colour and her size. She is larger and 
more tapering in her body. She is armed with a 
sting, which she, however, seldom uses energetically, 
either as the sceptre of her sovereignty, or the sword 
of her power, in the hive she reigns supreme, per- 
mittino; no rival near her throne. Since the creation 
of her race, no prince-consort has to the queen-bee 
been known. By infallible instinct she is followed 
by the whole hive ; and where she is not, none will 
long remain. Her wings being shorter than those 
of the other bees, she flies more slowly, and can 
therefore be followed with less difficulty. Although 
she has been known to live for five or six years, she 
may never have occasion to use her wings all that 
time. 

Mr. HuisH, a most able, practical, and comprehen- 
sive writer on the subject, says : 



THE BEE. 11 

" The form of the Queen is wholly different from 
that of other bees. Like the drones, she neither 
has nor needs the triangular store cavities in her 
hinder thighs : her teeth are smaller than those of 
the working-bee, but larger than those of the drone, 
and she has no bunches of hair or bristle near her 
feet ; she is longer in her body, and more tapering 
than the drone. Her belly is of a golden colour, and 
the upper part of her is of a brighter hue than (hat 
of the common bee. But the most unerring rule to 
judge of the queen-bee is from the shortness of her 
wings, which extend only to the third ring of her 
body, whilst those of the working-bees, and more par- 
ticularly those of the drones, cover almost their whole 
length. Thus she flies with greater difficulty than 
the working-bees; however, it is mere accident, if, 
in the course of her life, she should have any occa- 
sion for her wings." 

By some peculiar process of impregnation she be, 
comes the mother of the whole colony, laying the 
eggs which are fecundated by the drones, and from 
which all the rest proceed, whether they be future 
queens, drones, or workers. Her fruitfulness, from 
whatever cause insecto-anatomists may conceive it 
to arise, almost exceeds belief; for she continues to 
deposit eggs as long as a single cell remains vacant 
to receive them. She might, therefore, with more 
truth be styled the mother, rather than the queen of 
the bees, as, at the present moment, it is the earnest 
prayer of every loyal Briton that the terms in a high- 
er quarter may be speedily conjoined. The queen 
soon pines and dies without her subjects, and they 



12 THE BEE. 

immediately cease to labour when separated from 
their queen. To compensate for death, accident, or 
incapacity, preparations are immediately made for 
the formation of a new royal personage ; and at the 
proper season young queens are to be found at every 
stage of progress. The successor is formed from the 
larva of the common bee, which is supplied with 
royal food, not in the common hexagonal cells, but 
in one of a peculiar construction — an oblong sphe- 
roid — and of a larger size. The young princesses, 
varying in number from five to six dozens, reach ma- 
turity about the sixteenth day, and those of them that 
are not required are thrown out of the hive. On this 
subject the remarks of Mowbray are judicious, and 
contain almost all that the young apiarian requires. 
He says, "The cells both of the drones and the 
working-bees are horizontal. The cell of the drone 
is of an irregular form, that of the working or com- 
mon bee a perfect hexagon. On the side of the mid- 
dle combs the cell is constructed, which is destined 
to receive the egg of which a young queen is to be 
born. It has been discovered by the curious that 
nature imparts the wonderful faculty to the queen of 
foreknowing the kind of egg she is about to lay, and 
of choosing the particular cell in which it ought to 
be placed. Such are the discoveries or opinions of 
practical Apiarians. 

Should the number of labouring bees be insuffi- 
cient for the purpose of constructing the necessary 
cells, the queen will most probably forsake the hive, 
however well supplied with provision, and will be 
most ready to take this step in fine weather. All, or 



THE BEE. 13 

part of the stock, will follow, assisting her, it is 
averred, when wearied, from being unaccustomed to 
flight, by bearing her up with their legs and wings. 
The old remedy to prevent this desertion, was to 
place empty combs in the hive, which does not al- 
ways succeed, from the disgust taken by the queen. 
The preferable method is supposed to be, when there 
is a hive at hand, the colony of which has died 
through the season, to place over it the hive about 
to be deserted. The eggs left in the borrowed hive 
will thus be hatched, and a colony raised in suffi- 
cient numbers. The accidental death of the queen, 
or departure, will occasion the bees to forsake their 
hive. Some years since, according to report, the 
Rev. Dr. Dunbar, by a series of experiments in 
Scotland, ascertained that wiien a queen-bee is want- 
ing in a hive, she may be produced from the egg of 
a working-bee. In one experiment, the queen being 
removed, the bees set about constructing royal cells, 
and placing common larcm in them : in seven days 
two queens were formed. One of these killed the 
other, and though, while in a virgin state, the sur- 
viving queen was treated by the bees with no dis- 
tinction whatever, she no sooner began to lay, than 
she became the object of constant solicitude iind 
respect by her admiring subjects, who watched, fed, 
and waited upon her. 

The common or working bees are the smallest in 
size, and, in a good swarm, are computed to amount 
to from twelve to twenty thousand in number. For 
a long time the principal or queen-bee was supposed 
to be a male, and was called the king, which modern 



14 THE BEE. 

research has discovered to be female ; and by the 
same means it has been proved that the working 
bees are of the same gender in an undeveloped form. 

The cells in which the workers' eggs are deposited 
lie in the centre of the hive : they are there first de- 
posited by the queen, and are in size such as those 
produced by the butterfly. They are hatched in four 
or five days : for four or six days more they remain 
in the larva or grub state, during which period they 
are tended and fed by the nurse bees. The nymph 
or pupa form is then assumed : they next wind them- 
selves into a cocoon or film, and the nurse bees care- 
fully enclose them with wax. The perfect bee bursts 
forth from its imprisonment on the twenty-first day 
from the laying of the egg. It is quickly cleaned 
by its companions, and in a few hours may be seen 
gathering honey " from every opening flower" in the 
garden or finld around its hive. 

"In examining the structure of the common 
working-bee," says Buffbn, " the first remarkable 
part that offers is the trunk (proboscis), which 
serves to extract the honey from flowers. It is not 
formed like that of other flies, in the manner of a 
tube, through which the fluid is to be sucked up, 
but like a besom to sweep, or tongue to lick it up. 
The insect is also furnished with teeth, enabling it 
to work upon materials collected, ihc pollen hnd farina 
of flowers, from an elaboration of which, in the sto- 
mach of the bee, are to be derived both the honey 
and wax. In the thighs of the hinder legs are found 
two cavities, fringed with hair, and into these, as 
into a basket, the bee deposits the pellets it has col- 



THE BEE, 15 

lected. Thus employed, it flies from flower to flower, 
increasing its stores, until the pellet or ball upon 
each thigh acquires the size of a grain of pepper ; 
when having obtained a sufficient load, it returns 
homewards, making the best way to the hive." 

The belly of the bee is divided into six rings, 
which, by slipping one over the other, shorten the 
dimensions of the body. Pliny held that the body 
of the bee is furnished with pores, through which 
the animal breathes; and to this opinion, Lisle, the 
agricultural writer, has assented. The contents of 
the insect's belly, besides the common intestines, are 
the honey. bag, the venom-bag, and the sting. The 
honey. bag is transparent as crystal, containing the 
honey which has been collect*^d — the greater part of 
which is deposited in the hive, being passed into the 
cells of the honey-combs, whilst the remainder serves 
for the insect's nourishment, as, during the summer 
or labouring season, it never touches the store laid 
by for winter. 

The sting, which serves to defend this little ani- 
mal from its enemies, is composed of three parts, the 
sheath and two darts, which are extremely small and 
penetrating. These darts have several small points 
or barbs, like those of a fish-hook, which render the 
sting more painful, the darts rankling in the wound. 
Still, however, the infliction from such an instru- 
ment would be very slight, had not the bee power to 
poison the wound. The sheath, which has a sharp 
point, makes the first impression ; the darts act 
next ; after which the venomous fluid is infused. The 
eheath sometimes, urged perhaps by the degree of 



16 THE BEE. 

excitement in the insect, sticks so fast in the wound, 
that it is left behind, and causes more permanent in- 
flammation. The bee, in consequence, soon after 
dies, from an eruption of the intestines. 

It might, on first consideration, appear well for 
mankind if the bee had not the power of inflicting 
such wounds ; but, on farther reflection, it will be 
found that the little animal would have too many 
rivals in sharing the profits of its labours. Nume= 
rous other animals, fond of honey, and of obtaining 
it at free cost, would intrude upon the sweets of the 
hive without armed guardians for its protection. 
The venom of the insects appears to be an original 
material in their composition, imparted to them by 
nature for defence or revenge, and not formed, like 
honey, from ingredients collected externally. 

Among the working bees there is a com[)lete divi- 
sion of labour — some being employed in secreting 
and spreading wax, and constructing cells ; others, 
in warming the eggs, guarding the queen, and giving 
warning of external danger; while the rest ransack 
the fields, flying from flower to flower in search of 
honey or farina, loaded with which they fly home- 
ward to the hive. There is great difl^erence of opin- 
ion regarding the length of life in working. bees, but 
it is generally believed that they are short-lived, and 
that their place is speedily supplied. 

It is computed that the drones, or male bees, are 
half the number of the other bees in every swarm. 
They are stingless ; in size, between the queen and 
common bee, and may be distinguished by their loud 
and peculiar hum. The cells in which the eggs, 



THE BEE, 17 

from which they spring, are laid, are larger than 
those of the common bees, stronger, and nearer the 
side of the hive. Twenty-five or twenty-six days is 
the period in which they pass through their various 
stages. Their life extends from April to August or 
September, at which time they are indiscriminately 
massacred by the working-bees. The drone is full 
at the extremity or tail, which the wings cover, ex- 
cepting a small angle which has a blackish ap. 
pearance. Beneath are two small protuberances, 
"which are the supposed indications of the masculine 
gender. The drone is left by nature unarmed, the 
organs of generation in him being found in the place 
of the sting in the working-bee. The antennce and 
probosces of the drones are shorter than those of the 
labouring bees, and their t<'eth smaller ; nor have 
they those cavities on the thighs which distinguish 
the latter, their sole destined employment being the 
propagation of their kind, for which they are fur- 
nished with food from the common stock, towards 
the collection of which they never give, nor are ex- 
pected to give, any assistance. 

The drone has been a much slandered creature, — 
but the great Author of nature has done nothing in 
vain ; and it clearly appears that the drone serves a 
most important purpose in the economy of the iiive. 
It has been supposed by some that the drones fecun- 
date the eggs deposited by the queen ; but this can- 
not bo, for the greater number of these are laid and 
hatched after the drones are destroyed, and before a 
new race of them are brought forth in the spring. 
The truth is, the eggs are rendered productive by 



18 THE BEE. 

the drones before they are deposited by the queen ; 
and when this has been done, she remains fruitful as 
long as she lives, and has no need of drones for the 
only purpose they were designed to serve. If a hive, 
according to Bonner and Huber, is forcibly deprived 
of its young queen, no expulsion or destruction of 
the drones takes place; the purposes of their nature 
not having been yet accomplished. They are re- 
tained, in case of need, for the production of other 
queens, whose eggs they must render fruitful. In 
ventilating hives, where swarming is unnecessary, on 
account of abundance of space, the young queens 
themselves are expelled, followed by the destruction 
of the drones at an earlier period than, in other cir- 
cumstances, it would have occurred. They are then 
useless, and their expulsion often takes place as early 
as May ; but in the common swarming hives, as new 
queens may still require to be fecundated, to form 
the heads of new clans, the onslaught does not take 
place till July or August. All this distinctly proves 
that the purpose served by the drones is to render 
the queen's eggs productive. If this object is not 
required, they are sacrificed, but if it is, they are 
spared. They are not allowed to remain a burden 
on the common stock, when they can be of no far- 
ther use, and the destruction of the drones may be 
considered as a safe and sure indication that no fur- 
ther swarming is contemplated. Dr. Beran, in his 
work entitled the " Honey Bee," observes, " that 
the number of drones may be considered as in ac- 
cordance, in some degree, with the general profuse- 
ness of nature ; we find her abounding with super- 



THE BEE. 19 

numeraries in a great variety of instances, in the 
blossoms of trees, and flowers, as well as in the rela- 
tive number of one sex to another among animals." 
Huber conceives that it was necessary there should 
be a great number of drones, that the queen might 
be sure of finding one in her excursion through 
the expanse of the atmosphere, and run no risk of 
sterility. 

2. Swarming. — In the generality of cases, swarm- 
ing with bees is an act of necessity. If required, it 
can easily be prevented by the enlargement or venti- 
lation of the hive. A crowded population and an 
increasing temperature lead the bee to seek relief by 
emigration, just as we ourselves pant after the fresh 
breeze when confined to the stifling atmosphere of 
the theatre or the ball-room. Mr. Huber says, " We 
have frequently proved the heat of the hive by the 
thermometer. In a populous hive the heat continues 
of nearly one temperature, until the tumult which 
precedes swarming, which increases the heat to such 
a degree as to be intolerable to the bees. When ex- 
posed to it, they rush impetuously towards the outlet 
of the hive and depart." Kirby and Spence say, 
" Bees being confined to a given space, which they 
possess not the means of enlarging, — to avoid the ill 
effects of beinjx too much crowded, when their pop- 
ulation exceeds a certain limit, they must necessarily 
emigrate." 

When there is a first swarm, the new colony is 
generally led forth by the old queen, who leaves the 
heir to her throne behind in an embryo state. In 
the majority of cases an equal number of young and 



20 THE BEE. 

old bees, with a few hundreds of drones, form the 
swarm. 

Many from vanity, and some from ignorance, are 
disposed to boast of the number of swarms they can 
extract from each hive in the course of a single sea- 
son, but this is a foolish idea, and olten a fatal mis- 
take. By this practice we may certainly increase 
the number of hives in the Apiary, but it is at the 
cost of diminishing the strength of the bees and the 
quantity of their product. A first swarm may often 
be led to throw off a cast even in the same year, but 
it must be late in the season : consequently there 
must be a deficiency in the store of winter provi- 
sions : before spring they dwindle and die. The 
first swarm is weakened, the second is lost ; but if 
care had been taken to prevent their separation, there 
would have been one strong stock for the following 
year, which in all circumstances is infinitely better 
than many weak ones. 

Mr. Isaac, in his useful little tract, gives the fol- 
lowing definition of a few Apiarian Techtmcalitiks. 
I copy them as btnng rather tnore precise than those 
to which I have been generall}^ accustomed : " By 
colonies^ are to be understood bees in double or treble 
hives. Stocks designate bees generally at the end of 
the season. All bees, from the season of hiving till 
its conclusion at Michaelmas, are called swarms; 
subsequently stocks, if in single hives ; colonics, if in 
double. A swarm having thrown out a swarm, be- 
comes then a stocky although it may have been hived 
but a few weeks. Such superabundant swarming 



THE BEE. 21 

in this climate is disadvantageous. Swarming gene- 
rally continues between two and three weeks." 

Mr. Brown, of Renfrew, N. B., had a hive which 
cast three swarms in 1807,^ve swarms in 1808, three 
swarms in 1809, ^ud four swarms in 1810, the parent 
hive still in good strength. In 1826, Mr. E. Day, of 
Coldblow farm, Hucking, took from fourteen stocks 
of bees 576 lbs. of honey. 

Such examples as these, and even in favourable 
circumstances they are rare, are apt to lead the 
young Apiarian astray, but his great object should 
be to prevent the breaking-up of his stock into frag- 
ments ; to keep it entire, and hold it together as 
much as possible, which will secure him against 
many unforeseen contingencies, save him much anxi- 
ety, trouble, and expense, while eventually it leads to 
the greatest amount of profit. 

Gelieu justly observes, " In the swarming season 
the strong hives are almost entirely filled with brood 
combs. At that time also honey becomes abundant, 
and when fine days succeed each other, the work- 
ing. bees amass an astonishing quantity. But where 
is it to be stored 1 Must they wait till the young 
bees have left the brood cells, by which time the 
early flowers will be withered ? What is to be done 
in this dilemma? Mark the resources of the indus- 
trious bees. They search in the neighbourhood 
where they may deposit their honey until the young 
shall have left the combs in which they w^ere hatched. 
If they fail in this object, they crowd together in the 
front of their habitation, forming prodigious clusters. 



22 THE BEE. 

It is not uncommon to see them building combs on 
the outsides." 

By increasing their accommodation in their pre- 
sent home, and lessening the temperature by venti- 
lation, they would be saved all the hurry and hubbub, 
the bustle and the bother of " a flitting," two of 
which are said to be to ourselves worse than a fire, 
and one to them we are assured must be as bad as a 
thunder shower. Let it be avoided by all means. 
They are industrious creatures, but the season of 
swarming is to them an idle and uncomfortable pe- 
riod. The collecting of honey, while all nature is 
inviting them to the congenial task, is laid aside, and 
for one plain reason — because they have no room 
wherewithal to store it. 

The months of May and June are the periods of 
swarming, but the precise departure of the swarm 
depends in a great measure on the state of the 
weather. The swarming season is the most im- 
portant and anxious period of the labours of the Api- 
arian, for on its successful issue depends the chief 
part of his profit. It should be the aim of every 
keeper of bees to make himself thoroughly acquaint- 
ed with the chief symptoms of the departure of a 
swarm, for his ignorance on this point will expose 
him to certain loss. Circumstances may possibly 
so combine as that the most experienced Apiarian 
may be mistaken in his calculations, but in the ma- 
jority of cases the prognostics of a swarm are so de- 
cisive, that the precise period of its departure can be 
definitely fixed. 

The symptoms indicative of swarming are vari- 



THE BEE. 23 

ous. Clustering outside of the hive is not an infal- 
lible sign, for unless a queen be ready, however 
much they may be annoyed for want of room, they 
may remain in that position for weeks. According 
to Reaumur, if on any particular day there is little 
egress from a hive, whence they were seen previous- 
ly issuing in great numbers, it may be considered as 
indubitable that the period of swarming is at hand. 
The reason is obvious, — the bees, aware that they 
are about to depart, consider it unnecessary to la- 
bour for furnishing a habitation which tTiey are no 
longer to occupy, and therefore remain at home. 
Another sign is a general hum in the evening, con- 
tinued during night. On placing the ear close to 
the hive, clear and sharp sounds may be distin- 
guished. On the following day numbers may be 
seen at the mouth of the hive uttering notes of alarm ; 
and if no business seems to be going on in the inte- 
rior, a young queen only requires to come forth to 
be followed by a numerous retinue. But the only 
remedy for the infallibility of these is to keep a strict 
watch, otherwise the swarm may be completely lost, 
or go to increase the stock of some distant neighbour. 
When the swarming does take place, the best plan 
is to leave the bees as much as possible to them- 
selves ; the rattling of peas and the throwing of wa- 
ter being practices " more honoured in the breach, 
than in the observance." In this respect, in our 
own experience, we have been peculiarly fortunate, 
never having run any risk or been put to much trou- 
ble with one of our swarms. This we attribute in 
a great measure to our having followed the general 



24 THE BEE* 

axiom now stated ; and the only instances in which 
we departed from it was, when by their appearing to 
wheel a high flight in the air, as if bent on a distant 
flight, we threw up some fine sand among the lower 
strata, where the queen, from her tardiness of flight, 
was most likely to be ; when the whole have darted 
down, and clustered in the course of an instant upon 
the nearest shrub. If there are low trees or bushes 
near the hive, they will choose them, and but seldom 
desire a long journey. We have known, during a 
succession of years, each swarm from the same stock 
clustering invariably upon the same branch of the 
same tree. If it can be done conveniently, the hive 
for their reception — having the concave top rubbed 
with a little ale and sugar — should be placed imme- 
diately above them, when they will speedily begin to 
ascend. A white cloth should be thrown over the 
hive, and in the evening all will be found snugly 
housed, their operations already commenced, and 
prepared to be placed on their permanent pedestal. 
This in general in our experience we have been able 
to accomplish, but if it is necessary to place the hive 
under the cluster, the bees must be swept into it by 
a goose-wing or some other convenient instrument. 

Sometimes when a swarm is hovering in the air, 
it divides, and a part falls to the ground. This should 
be carefully examined, for the queen may perchance 
be among them. If so, she should immediately be 
placed in the empty hive, and if but a few see her, 
they will instantly join her, followed by the whole 
host. If another swarm seems desirous to rise, it 
must be promptly stopped, as they would be apt to 



THE BEE. 25 

join, and if one of the que(3ns is not quickly slain 
in battle, a war of uncompromising extermination 
would take place between the rival clans. 

3. Hives. — Bees are of themselves in a state of na- 
ture at no loss in procuring a suitable residence. They 
collect their stores in the fissures of rocks and in the 
hollows of decayed trees. The climate, the locality, 
and the taste of the proprietor, must modify tiie 
nature of their habitation in a domesticated state. 
Bees have a wonderlul facility, founded on the saga- 
city of their nature, in adapting their works to the 
form of their dwelling, although it has been posi- 
tively affirmed by Gelieu that they form more honey 
in a shallow vessel than in a very deep one, but on 
this point we cannot decide. 

In the purchase of stocks, the following essential 
points should bs attended to, without a knowledge of 
which the young Apiarian will find himself deceived 
at the very moment when his expectations of ulti- 
mate success are raised to the highest pitch. It is 
with a bee-hive as with a wife, never take one on 
the recommendation of another person, but be your 
own judge of its merits and defects. If it be your 
intention to purchase a stock, repair to the garden 
in which it stands, about the middle of the day, and, 
placing yourself before it, pay particular attention 
to the action of the bees. If you observe them 
crowding in and out of the hive, and a considerable 
number of them having little yellow pellets or balls 
on their hinder legs, a very favourable opinion may 
be formed of the health and condition of the interior, 
and especially of the prolific state of the queen. If 
3 



26 THE BEE. 

the examination lake place previously to the swarm- 
ing season, pay particular attention to the number 
of drones: this is an infallible criterion of the popi' 
lousness of the hive, and the purchaser may th' 
confidently look forward to the possession of tf 
usual swarms. " 

If, on the other hand, the examination take pl?^* 
in the autumn, the previous massacre of the dro 
must be ascertained ; the omission of this act on f' 
part of the bees, is a certain sign of some radi'^ 
defect, most probably on the part of the queen, a ■ 
the prospect of the bees surviving the winter '■^ 
comes thereby highly problematical. If the T 
appear irascible and bold in their attacks on t"'' 
enemies, particulariv the wasp, it is a good sigr'' 
their condilion if on their return ^rom the fi^ 
their bodies appear cylindrical, it is certain pt 
that the bees are ousy in the collection of honey, o'* 
consequently a good estimate may oe ibrmed of tho 
interior richness of the hive. In regard to the exte. 
rior of the hive, on no account select one which is 
old and decayed, as such hives are always infested 
with vermin. No prudent apiarian will ever put a 
swarm into an old hive, and in this respect it must 
be admitted that in a great degree the most culpable 
carelessness exists on the part of cottagers, who, per- 
haps, from a principle of false economy, put their 
swarms into old and rotten hives rather than be at 
the expense of purchasing new ones. 

Hives either stand in a bee-house, box, or shed, or 
under a thatched or other kind of roof. The stand 
on which the hive is placed should always be kept 



THE BEE. 27 

fclean, particularly so in the spring, at the com- 
mencement of the working season, if it be at times 
sprinkled with a little salt, it will be very conducive 
to the health of the bees. In short, all impurities 

hould be removed from within and without the hive, 

n order to save the cleanly insects the unprofitable 

ibour of the removal of nuisances. 
The hives' most generally used in England, and 
which are recommended by Cobbet as the best, are 

lade of straw, of a bell. shape, but with no arrange- 
ment for ventilation or enlargement. Among cotta- 
'^ers, on account of their cheapness, these hives still 
i ^mmand a preference, notwithstanding the more 
' vproved form and material introduced in modern 
"^ imes. Undressed rye straw serves best for their 
instruction : they should be about thirteen inches 
ide at the bottom, and about nine at the top, and it 
would be an improvement to have them somewhat 
thicker than they are generally made at present. It 
is customary to pass sticks through them at right 
angles for the i)urpose of supporting the combs, but 
as these rather obstruct the bees in their operations, 
the end would be better gained by making the lower 
part narrower. This could be easily managed by 
making the base of the hive a stout wooden hoop, to 
"which the lower circumference might be fitted, al- 
lowing the hive to bulge out as it approached the 
top. This is recommended by Dr. Bevan, who says, 
that tliis hoop should be perforated through its whole 
course in an oblique direction, "the perforations so 
distant from each other as to cause all the stitches 
of the hive to range in a uniform manner," and thus 



28 tiiti fiETJ. 

to be wrought into the lower band. The hoop makes 
the hive more durable, more steady, and more easily 
moved. A circular piece of wood, about three inch- 
es in diameter, with an inch hole in the centre, 
should be wrought into the crown. Through this 
opening the bees may be fed more advantageously 
than at the entrance, and it can be sp far servicea- 
ble for ventilating the hive. When not required for 
either of these purposes, it can easily be plugged up, 
or covered with a bit of tin. Straw hives are often 
covered with an earthen pan ; in Scotland a mere 
sod or thatch of straw is often used, which can nei- 
ther be said to be tidy nor tasteful, and, eke, dirty 
and dangerous. At all events, the covering, what- 
ever it is, should always shape outwards, to carry 
off all moisture, against which too much precaution 
cannot be used ; and ot" whatever materials the hives 
may be composed, they should be well painted at 
first, and at regular intervals afterwards, "for," as 
Mr. Payne says, "hives managed on the depriving 
system are expected to last from 15 to 20 years." 

Wooden hives or boxes are now almost invariably 
employed by the best bee cultivators, for, however 
those of straw may form a ready resource to the cot- 
tager, wooden ones are not only cheaper in the end 
from their greater durability, but more profitable at 
first from their square form, affording greater facili- 
ties for the more economical arrangement of the 
combs. The boxes may be made of any wood if it 
is dry, well seasoned, well joined, and not resinous. 
The size must depend on the number of bees it is to 
contain, and that depends much upon the honey-pas- 



THE BEE. 



29 



turage of the district. Ten or twelve inches square, 
and an inch thick, are the fair dimensions. The top 
should project about an inch, both for ornament and 
utiUty, — also a hole at the top for feeding, and of 
size sufficient to insert a bell-glass, with one at the 
top for ventilation. There may be a window, both 
in front and behind, for the purpose of inspection, 
which ought to be furnished with zinc shutters, to 
slide closely up and down in a groove. Hives of 
this kind require to be placed under a cover or shed, 
to protect them from the rain and the heat of the sun. 
When a number of hives are kept, they may be 
placed on shelves in a row, one over the other, and 
thus one* roof may be made to cover nine as easily 
as three, and twelve as easily as four. This may 
be distinctly understood by the annexed figure. 




The front is a fixture, perforated by nine holes op- 
posite to the entrance of each of the hives, with an 
alighting board. The back is enclosed with folding 
doors, on opening which the hives can either be in. 



dO tun fiEJg. 

spected or removed. The whole should be carefully 
painted, and rendered vind and water tight. Should 
the apiary be extensive, and the hives stand in dou- 
ble rows, Mr. Huish advises the chequered fornn : 


In which mode the flight of the bees in the hinder 
row will not be obstructed by the front hives. A 
bee taking flight from the l)ive generally forms a con. 
siderable angle with tlie hoiizon in his ascent; and 
should the hive stand at too great a degree of eleva- 
tion, the advantage would enable the swarm to take 
so extensive a flight, ihiit ihey might be totally lost. 
But if the site be not sufficiently extensive to admit 
of the hives being placed in a right line, it is prefera- 
ble to set them one over another in double rows. 
The pedestal or stool should have but a single leg or 
support, and its top, on which the hive is to stand, 
should be made of seasoned and bubstantial wood, 
which will not warp, and wlach should be firmly 
nailed to the post, in a shmting direction, in order 
that the rain may run off", all stagnant moisture being 
highly inimical to bees. 

The jloor-hoard on which the hives stand should 
literally be of wood, and not of stone, or any cold 
material, for obvious reasons. There must be a 
separate board for every hive. The weight of each 
hive and board should be marked on them before use. 
The entrance is generally cut out of the bottom of 
the hive, but it should rather be scooped from the 
surface of the board, gradually sloping upward into 
the hive. It ought to be made wide, as it can 



THE BES. 



SI 



be contracted at any time. But a better method 
still is a double board, with a space in front be- 
tween, and through the upper part of which a hole 
for entrance is cut altogether within the hive. 

The hive should never be cemented to the board 
with mortar or clay. The bees themselves furnish 
the best cement : all others only serve to hasten the 
decay of the hive, and to breed vermin. 

Hives may be enlarged in a variety of ways; by 
storifying, by collateral hives; by made hives, and 
these in multifarious modes, which we would rather 
trust to the practical ingenuity of our readers than 
minutely describe; but those who wish details, will 
find them amply in Huish, Nutt, Bagster, Taylor, 
and Jardine. 

4. Ventilators and Thermometer. 
The ventilators used, and so well 
described by Taylor in The Bee- 
Keeper\s Mam/al, consist of dou- 
ble tin or zinc tubes, both resting 
in the holes prepared for them on 
a fl isk or lini. "The centre tube 
is of one inch diameter and six 
inches long, with six half-inch 
holes dispersed over it. It is soon 
fixed down by the bees, and so 
must remain. The inner tube is of perforated zinc, 
with a tin projecting top as a handle, and a cap to 
put on or off this as required. The bees will stop 
up the inner tube when they can get at it, when it 
may be turned round a little to present a new sur- 
face. When wholly stopped, it may be withdrawn 





U 



33 THF. B£E. 

from its place, and a new tube substituted. This 
may be done without the least danger to the opera- 
tor; but it should be inserted carefully, to avoid 
crushing any bees that may have crept within the 
outer tube. An exit for these is afforded by a hole 
at the bottom. The tube that has thus been re- 
moved may be cleansed by the aid of hot water. 

"In order occasionally to know the temperature 
of any of the boxes, a thermometer made to fit the 
ventilator may occasionally be inserted in it. This 
will at all times give facility for making accurate 
observations, but it is more particularly useful as a 
matter of precaution toward the swarming season." 

An experienced apiarian, and in certain seasons, 
may perhaps be able to dispense with the use of the 
ventilator and thermometer, and by some they are 
denounced as an unwieldly and unnecessary appara- 
tus, serving no important purpose in the economy of 
the hive. On the inexperienced, however, it cannot 
be too strongly impressed how important a stepping- 
stone they form in his progress to ultimate suc- 
cess — how much success and security by means of 
them he is able to attain — how many mistakes to 
avoid, and knowledge to acquire — while even with- 
out them the most skilful will never be able to pro- 
ceed with the same degree of certainty, especially 
in that important step, the prevention of swarming; 
nor will bees ever work so well in a heated atmos- 
phere as with a moderate and equable temperature. 
A cool store-room also contributes most essentially 
to the purity of the honey and the whiteness of the 
comb. The expense of the ventilators being so tri- 



THE BEE. 33 

fling, ought to form no barrier in the way of their 
introduction into every hive. It has been errone- 
ously supposed and illogically argued that bees have 
an antipathy to ventilation, because they so carefully 
close up every hole through which air can be admit- 
ted, especially in the hottest weather, when a fresh 
supply would be most acceptable ; but the truth is, 
they are equally careful in shutting up every cre- 
vice, whether there is any circulation through it or 
not. This argument, therefore, falls to the ground, 
and we say to every bee-holder, employ the ventila- 
tor and thermometer with all convenient speed. 

5. Feeding Apparatus, — Too little attention is in 
general paid to the feeding of bees, on which account 
many a fine hive has been impoverished by its ne- 
glect, or destroyed by its injudicious application. Ac- 
cording to the common process it is always a trou- 
blesome and frequently a dangerous operation ; bat 
by a certain apparatus it can be rendered equally 
simple and safe. The bees by means of it are fed 
at the top instead of the bottom of the hive. In this 
Way, then, they may be fed in any quantity and at 
any time, with more conveniciice to themselves and 
no risk to the feeder. According to the description 
of Mr. Taylor, " it consists of a tin or zinc pan, 
twelve inches by seven inches on the outside, and 
one inch and a quarter deep, made very flat at the 
bottom. A partition runs the length of one side of 
the pan, leaving the space of an inch wide, into 
which the food is poured, a passage for this being 
left all along under the partition an eighth of an 
inch high. It thus finds its way into the centre^ 



34 THE BEI^. 

where there is a thin perforated wooden bottom, a 
little raised underneath, and which floats on the 
food. The bees enter the pan through two holes 
corresponding in position with those on the top of 
the hive, and round the holes are rims half an inch 
high. A square of glass forms a cover, by means of 
which the bees may be seen without danger." 

A wooden cover should be made to tit over the 
pans to prevent the access of robbers, and it ought 
to be high enough to receive the bull-glass, or glass- 
es ; for these are at all times best covered. An ad- 
ditional advantage of pans on this construction will 
be seen in winter, for the vapour caused by the mois. 
ture is condensed in the bells and carried away. As 
the exhalation rises from the bees below, it is con- 
densed on the glass, and received in considerable 
quantities into the pan. In the absence of a bell- 
glass, the glass cover or lid to the pan may be kept 
in its place as a substitute, and on it a large quan« 
tity of vapour will be condensed, 

6. Miscellaneous Management. — A great deal de» 
pends upon the position of the hive. It should have 
a south or south-eastern aspect, sheltered from the 
wind, and not in the neighbourhood of ponds or 
rivers, which form a watery grave to many a bur- 
dened busy bee. 

In the vicinity of the hive there should be planted 
in large quantities crocus, single blue hepaticus, 
helleborus niger, and tussalago petasitest all of which 
flower early, and are rich in honey and farina. But 
the most cultivated districts are not to be compared 
with wild heaths, woods, and commons, or any 



'The bei!. 35 

place where white clover, saintfain, buckwheat, mus- 
tard, coleseed, dtc. prevail. 

A swarm should be selected early, if possible in 
May, for stocking a hive, which should be imme- 
diately placed in the position where it is intended 
to remain. The greater the mass of bees kept in 
one hive the better — five swarms combined not con- 
suming more food than two. This to some appears 
strange, but it is not the less true, and can be easily 
accounted for. For the best method of uniting 
swarms, especiall)' in collateral hives, see Taylor's 
Bee-Keeper^s Manual. " War to the knife," should 
be declared against all wasps, moths, earwigs, ants, 
spiders, and cobwebs. Weak hives are often at- 
tacked and destroyed by strange bees, against which 
the best and perhaps the only security is numbers. 
"Union is strc^ngth." In proportion to the wealth 
of the colony, is the desire and the power of the bees 
to dtfend it. 

•' In doubling the population," says Gelieu, "I na. 
turally conceived that we must also double the quan- 
tity of food, for I had always seen that two or three 
families living together used more meat than each 
would have done singly, however rigid their economy. 
The more mouths the more meat, thought I, and in 
consequence I augmented greatly the amount of pro- 
visions the first time I doubled a hive, but to my 
great astonishment, when 1 weighed it again in the 
spring, 1 lound that the united swarms had not con- 
sumed more than each would have done singly. I 
could not believe my eyes, but thought there must 
be some mistake ; nor could I be convinced until I 



36 



THE BEE. 



had repeated the experiment a hundred times over, 
and had always the same result. After this discove- 
ry I varied my experiments, not only to convince my- 
self of the fact, but if possible to arrive at still more 
extended results. I joined three hives in the autumn, 
by introducing into the middle one the bees of two 
neighbouring hives, and I found on weighing it ia 
the spring that its inhabitants had scarcely weighed 
one pound more than those of hives that had not been 
united. I went further : having a large, well-stocked, 
and amply.provided hive, I added to it in the au- 
tumn, without displacing it, the swarms of four neigh- 
bouring hives, two on the right hand and two on the 
left, which were so scarce of provisions, that the 
quantity of honey that would have been necessary to 
keop them alive, would have far exceeded their value, 
and that all four would to a certainty have perished. 
This enormous population produced a heat so great, 
that during the whole of a very severe wint-r the 
bees kept up a buzzing noise, equal to that of a strong 
and active hive in the evening of a fine day in spring. 
The hive was left out all the winter, and would in- 
fallibly have perished had I shut it up. What was 
my astonishment on weighing it in the spring to find, 
that, notwithstanding it contained five families, the 
total diminwtion did not exceed what took place in 
my ordinary hives! It gave out excellent swarms 
long before any of the others, and recompensed me 
well for my pains." 

This seeming anomaly is simply explained from 
the circumstance, that in a thinly. populated hive al- 
most the whole of the bees are required at this tiH^ 



THE BEE. 37 

to feed and warm their young, and consequently lit- 
tle or nothing is added to the continually decreasing 
stock of honey and farina. When the stock is large, 
a great proportion can be spared to go abroad ift 
search of food for the rising generation. 

Bees individually are short-lived, but as a com- 
munity they may be said to be immortal. Lord 
Brougham, in his "Dissertations on subjects of Sci- 
ence connected with Natural Theology," and whose 
minute details on scientific subjects make one won- 
der that he should be at the same time a classical 
scholar, an expert rhetorician, and an ingenious, if 
not a profound lawyer, says, "The attention which 
has been paid at various times to the structure and 
habits of the bee, is one of the most remarkable cir- 
cumstances in the history of science. The ancients 
studied it with unusual minuteness, although being, 
generally speaking, indifferent observers of facts, 
they made but little progress in discovering the eco- 
nomy of this insect. Of the observations of Aristo- 
machus, who spent sixty years, it is said, in the 
study of the subject, we know nothing; nor of those 
that were made by Philissus, who passed his life in 
the woods for the purpose of examining this insect's 
habits ; but Pliny informs us that both of them wrote 
works upon it. Aristotle's three chapters on bees 
and wasps contain little more than the ordinary ob- 
servations, mixed up with an unusual portion of vul- 
gar and even gross errors. How much he attended 
to the subject is, however, manifest from the extent 
of the first of these chapters, which is of great 
length. Some mathematical writers studied the 



38 THE BEE. 

form of the cells, and established one or two of the 
fundamental propositions respecting the economy of 
labour and wax, resulting from the plan of the 
structure. The application of modern naturalists 
to the inquiry, is to be dated from the beginning of 
the eighteenth century, when Maraldi examined it 
with his accustomed care, and Reaumur afterwards, 
as we have seen, carried his investigations much far- 
ther. The interest of the subject seemed to increase 
with the progress made in these inquiries, and about 
the year 1765 a Society was formed at Little Baut- 
zen, in Upper Lusatia, whose sole object was the 
study of bees. It was formed under the patronage 
of the Elector of Saxony. The celebrated Schirach 
was one of its original members, and soon after its 
establishment he made his famous discovery of the 
power which the bees have to supply the loss of their 
Queen, by forming a large cell out of three common 
ones, and feeding the grub of a worker upon royal 
jelly ; a discovery so startling to naturalists, that 
Bonnet, in 1769, earnestly urged the Society not to 
lower its credit by countenancing such a wild error, 
which he regarded as repugnant to all we know of 
the habits of insects, — admitting, however, that he 
should not be so incredulous of any observations 
tending to prove the propagation of the race of the 
Queen bee without any co-operation of a male, a no- 
tion .since shown by Huber to be wholly chimerical. 
In 1771, a second institution under the Elector Pala- 
tine's patronage, with the same limited object, but 
founded at Lauter, and of which Rien, scarcely less 



THE BEE. 30 

known in this branch of science than Schirach, was 
a member. 

"The greatest progress, however, was afterwarda 
made by Ruber, whose discoveries, especially of the 
Queen Bee's mode of impregnation, the slaughter of 
the drones or males, and the mode of working, have 
justly gained him a very high place among natural- 
ists. Nor are his discoveries of the secretion of 
wax from saccharine matter, the nature of propolis 
and the nature of wax for building, to be reckoned 
less important. For these truths the way had been 
led by John Hunter, whose vigorous and original 
genius never was directed to the cultivation of any 
subject without reaping a harvest of discovery. 
Since the time of Hunter and Huber no progress 
has been made in this branch of knowledge." The- 
oretically, Lord Brougham and Vaux is in all this, 
and especially in his last statement, correct ; but 
after the perusal of our petty, but pretty work, it 
is hoped that he will be found altogether practically 
wrong, by the spread and improvement of bee-culture 
here and there and every where. 



THE PIGEON. 



!• Nature of the Pigeon. — The pigeon can be 
easily naturalized in every climate, with the ex- 
ception of the frigid zones. Towards the two poles 
it is seldom to be found, and never thrives or pro- 
pagates, while it is prosperous in temperate regions 
— the burning sun of the tropics rather improving 
than impairing its natural constitution ; but the wild 
pigeons of cold countries always emigrate towards 
the south on the approach of winter. 

In a civilized and improved condition, they ap- 
pear, of all the feathered tribes, more subject to the 
process of amelioration, than when in a state of 
nature. The superiority of the one to the other, is 
evidenced by the fact, that in the natural state they 
are difficult to be caught, and few in numbers, but 
when domesticated, and brought up under the fos- 
tering hand of man, they increase in endless varieties 
of plumage and of form. 

As emblematical of beauty, and innocence, they 

have always ranked among the feathered favourites 

of mankind ; in eastern countries, they are regarded 

not only as objects of religious superstition, but held 

4 



42 THE PIGEON. 

in veneration, as the harbingers, or the emblems, of 
peace and love. 

II. Political view of the Pigeon.^A question has 
been raised regarding the national profit, or loss, 
which might arise from encouraging an extensive 
breed of Pigeons. On this point, both agriculturists, 
men of science, and amateurs, have differed in 
opinion, but it will be found, that no respectable 
antagonist to their partial propagation has ap. 
peared. We must confess, however, that Mr. Du- 
harnel, the apologist for the Dove tribes, has not 
been a very successful advocate. He avers, that 
pigeons do not feed upon green corn — that their 
bills have not sufficient power to dig for seeds in the 
earth, and that they only pick up scattered grains, 
which would else be wasted, or become the prey of 
other birds. From the season of the corn appearing, he 
says, pigeons subsist principally upon the seeds of 
weeds, the multiplication and spread of which they 
must, in consequence, greatly prevent. 

Another writer has of late introduced a story of 
the farmers in a certain district in England, who, 
finding their corn and pulse crops greatly reduced, 
attributed it to the vast quantity of pigeons kept 
among them, which, on this account, by a general 
resolution, they agreed to destroy. A few seasons 
afterwards, it seems they found their lands so ex- 
hausted, and their crops so overrun with weeds, that 
they came to a general wish for their pigeons back 
again. " Now," says Mowbray, " this is either a lame 
story, or the farmers implicated were very lame far- 
mers, if they did not know how to weed their land, 



THE PIGEON. 43 

without the assistance of agents the use of which 
must cost them so considerable a part of their crops." 
Last year, a farmer in Kent shot a wood-pigeon, 
from the crop of which he extracted nine hun- 
dred and twenty-six clavels of wheat, which he 
sowed, and obtained from them a harvest of one 
gallon three quarts of wheat. Every man, in the 
least acquainted with country affairs, is aware of 
the immense damage done to the crops of corn, 
beans, peas, and tares, by pigeons. A sufficient 
proof of this may be found in the reduction of the 
number of dove-cots throughout all countries where 
agriculture is best known, valued, and practised. 
Every one will judge for himself of the degree of 
credit due to the following statement, extracted 
from Mr. Vancouver's valuable survey of the county 
of Devon : 

" Pigeons often fly to a great distance for their 
food, and when they can find corn to eat, seldom 
prey upon anything else. They begin to eat corn 
about the middle of July, and rarely want the same 
food, all the stacks in the straw-yards, or in the 
fields, until the end of barley sowing, which is about 
old May-day, and which includes a period of two 
hundred and eighty days, or better than three quar- 
ters of the year, being during that period laid under 
contribution ; living the rest of the time upon the 
seeds of weeds and bentings. It is somewhere stated, 
that in England and in Wales there are twenty 
thousand dove-houses, averaging eacli at about one 
hundred pair of old pigeons. Taking this estimation 
at three-fourths, it will equal one million one hun- 



44 THE PIGEON. 

dred and twenty-five pair of dove-house pigeons, in 
England and Wales. These will consume, with 
what they carry home to their young, one pint of 
corn per pair daily, and for one hundred and forty 
days, being half the period during which they 
are supposed to subsist upon corn, amounts to one 
hundred and fifty-seven millions five hundred thou- 
sand pints of corn, consumed annually throughout 
England and Wales by pigeons." In Scotland, the 
mania for rearing immense flocks of pigeons is now 
nearly extinct. They seem to have been kept in the 
capacity, and to have performed the duty of the 
gleaners, of former days. No costly cote built for 
their accommodation, is now almost any where to be 
seen, except some lonely moss-o'ergrown fabric, 
venerable for its age, and perhaps valuable to the 
antiquary, but affording accommodation to no living 
creature except the owl, the sparrow, and the bat, 
and destined ere long to crumble into irremediable 
ruins. This is as it should be ; for although pigeons 
are always beautiful they are only valuable in their 
proper place. They can easily be kept in sufficient 
numbers, and propagated to a sufficient extent, with, 
out all this cumbrous machinery ; but many of our 
ancestors, and even some antiquated proprietors of 
the present day, seemed to have imagined that the 
staff of life was pigeon-'pief and that it should form 
the daily tood of mankind. But all this is fast, and 
for ever, passing away. In towns they can do no 
harm, except to the purse of the proprietor, who 
must furnish the principal part of their food. And 
they must be considered valuable, either in town or 



THE PIGEON. 46 

country, as they can pick up from the street or the 
road many a precious pile of grain, which would be 
otherwise irretrievably lost. Keeping immense 
flocks, is the only evil. 

On a general view of the subject, it appears that 
the dove. house system has ever been, in many 
cases, one of extreme injustice, as well as impolicy, 
in point of national advantage ; since great flocks 
may be maintained at the expense of persons having 
no property in them, and to whom they afford no pro- 
fit. But as neither the public nor individuals will 
consent to be deprived of the enjoyment of this 
ancient luxury, the fairest mode appears to be the reg- 
ular feeding of pigeons, by their proprietors, which in 
almost every instance so attaches them to home, that 
there is often, not only a necessity of driving them 
out for exercise, but the prevention of loss from 
their not straying. This plan should, of course, be 
more punctually observed in seed time, and towards 
the approach of the corn crops to maturity, but after 
reaping, it may of course in some measure be dis- 
pensed with. 

3. Varieties of the Pigeon. — Buffon, in his enu- 
meration, mentions upwards of thirty varieties; 
which, according to his usual systematical method, 
is probably more remarkable for convenience than 
for accuracy, but which he traces to one common 
origin : the Stock Dove, or common wild pigeon, 
(Columba anas.) 

The varieties of colour and form which we witness 
he attributes to human contrivance and fancy. 
There exist, nevertheless, essenti;il specific differences 



46 THE PIGEON. 

in these birds, which seem rather attributable to the 
nature of the region, soil, or climate, to which they 
are indigenous, than to the art of man. 

Respecting the origin of the different species of 
the pigeon, (and of no one kind are there so many 
varieties known to us,) another opinion prevails ; 
some naturalists deriving it from the rock pigeon, 
{Columba Linia.) I certainly incline towards the 
latter opinion, as the habits of the Rock Dove are 
closely allied to those of the dove-house pigeon, and 
a cross between the Dragoon and Rock Dove may be 
effected, while 1 believe the young of the Stock Dove 
has never yet been subjected to the confinement of 
the loft. 

The Stock Dove, or original of the pigeon genus, 
according to^Buffon, in its natural or wild state, is 
thus described ; " with a fine neck of a'^reddish gold 
colour, its wings marked with two black bars, one 
on the quill feathers, and the other on the covert ; 
the back white, and the tail barred near the end with 
black." The Ring Dove is yet held by naturalists 
to be distinct from the Stock Dove, and it would seem 
that the Turtle Dove is equally so from both. In this 
country the Blue Dove (house pigeon) is the most 
common, and the only species of these are the Ring 
Doves, or wood pigeons, and the Turtle Doves,) 
which are to be found in all parts of Southern , 
Britain, breeding during the spring and summer, and | 
retiring to the deepest recesses of the woods in the 
winter season, whence, probably, the Turtle has been 
supposed to emigrate, I am assured by a Spanish 



THE PIGEON. 47 

gentleman, that in Barbary they have pigeons equal 
in size to fowls, but incapable of flight. 

Throughout the woods and plantations on the do- 
main of Warwick Castle, the Turtle Dove abounds 
in multitudes, flying in pairs, and lighting on the 
turrets of the castle. Their loud and mournful 
cooing is heard on the road at a considerable dis- 
tance. Much pains have been taken, hitherto in- 
effectually, to reduce their numbers. 

The autumnal markets in the metropolis, and in 
most large towns, generally exhibit a large supply of 
Wood Pigeons, They assemble in large flocks, and 
take refuge during night in thick coverts, perching 
on the middle branches and top of the oak tree. 
As to the sport of shooting wood pigeons, the wintry 
and boisterous evenings in November are the most 
appropriate, when they are to be found roosting with 
their faces to windward, and the sportsman, generally 
approaching behind them, hidden by the lower 
foliage, and aided also from its rustling, obtains a 
fair chance of success, though the Ring Dove is par- 
ticularly shy and watchful. This is a sport by which 
any one, taking his stand in the twilight, may 
shoot the birds sitting or flying, and, without much 
exertion, soon have his bags well filled. 

The flesh of the wood-pigeon is in perfection 
about the end of Summer and during Autumn, from 
their abiUty in those seasons to procure the most 
fattening food. While in winter, feeding on cole- 
warts or any green food they can find, makes their 
flesh loose and bitter, but their large size would be 



48 THE PIGEON. 

increased by domestication, and the experiment must 
be successful. At Pamber House, Herts, according 
to Mowbray, there had been,immemorially, an annual 
nest of wood-pigeons in a large yew-tree, said to be 
three centuries old, which grew in the garden with- 
in a few yards of the house. We seldom saw the 
old birds, as they used the utmost vigilance. They 
are well supplied with them from the neighbouring 
forest. In 1827, immense flocks of wood-pigeons, 
to the computed number of two thousand in one field, 
were seen upon the lands near Chichester. Sir H, 
Fisher's keeper killed sixty couple in one day. 

Both in the ancient and modern world this beauti- 
ful and variegated genus of birds has been cherished 
by man as a source of amusement and gratification 
to the eye, as well as profit, in the article of provi- 
sion for the table. Besides, it was reckoned by cer- 
tain nations of antiquity unlawful to deprive them 
of life. The useful qualification of Messenger, ap- 
pertaining to the Asiatic and African species of the 
pigeon, is of great antiquity : and we read, in the 
time of the Crusades, of an Arabian prince who had 
a sort of telegraphic communication kept up in his 
dominions through the medium of pigeons, that 
carried letters, and were regularly relieved at ap- 
pointed posts. From these, doubtless, the breed 
celebrated in Europe under the name of the Carrier 
has proceeded. In modern times, those varieties 
which are kept for the purpose of amusement and 
show, are styled Fancy Breeds, and they form a dis- 
tinct article of commerce in cities and great towns, 
the varieties, as they chance to be in fashion, bring- 



THE PIGEON. 49 

ing a considerable price. From the earliest times 
the pigeon fanciers of London have had a club, in 
which premiums are awarded, and the notable science 
of the fancy, through the method of crossing colours 
and forms, is promoted and perpetuated. The chief 
objects of the fancy have hitherto been those vari- 
eties styled Almond (probably ermine,) Tumblers^ 
Carriers, and the birds with great crops, the most 
fashionable variety of which is the Pouting Horse- 
man. The specific merits of these breeds are indi- 
cated by their names. The tumbler exercises his 
faculty in the air, but is chiefly vakied for his peculiar 
form and variegated plumage. The Carrier, as a 
messenger, cuts the air with almost inconceivable 
swiftness. This is the columha tahellaria, the famous 
carrier, or messenger, between Aleppo and Alexan. 
dria in Egypt. The Pouter extends his crop to a 
size attractive to curiosity, and by his grotesque 
attitudes and familiarity with man, engages his at- 
tention. Half a century since, the pigeon Fancy 
was in higher estimation than at present, then : the 
almond tumbler was in its greatest vogue ; sums to 
the amount of twenty or thirty guineas each being 
the general price of superior cocks of that breed, 
such as in the present time would not bring more 
than five. The pigeon shops invariably appear the 
abode of poverty and wretchedness, and the poor un- 
fortunate birds, crammed into baskets and narrow 
coops, obviously partake of the calamity in the 
fullest measure. This fancy is much indulged in 
with certain of the lower classes, in the metropolis, 
and it is to be regretted that so much of their time is 



50 THE PIGEON. 

spent in the practice of entrapping stray pigeons and 
leading the fanciers from honest industry to loose 
and irregular habits. 

It would be useless to assign a reason why one 
particular breed out of so many species should alone 
possess the peculiar knowledge and instinct of the 
carrier. We must content ourselves without diving 
too far into the hidden mysteries of nature, and as- 
cribe that wonderful facility to the same Power 
that guides the swallow and other birds of passage 
across the waters of the Atlantic to our shores, or 
conducts them, each succeeding spring, to the same 
spot where for previous seasons they have reared 
their young. 

Tumblers by their flight are a source of great en- 
joyment to the fanciers, for in addition to their 
tumbling they will rise to so great a height in the 
air as to appear like a speck, or become altogether 
imperceptible. If of a good kind, and well famili- 
arized to one another, they will in their flight keep 
in so close company that a dozen of them may be 
covered with a handkerchief. If the weather be fine 
and clear, they will keep upon the wing for four or 
five hours at a time, the favourite set seldom or never 
tumbling except when about to rise, or when coming 
down to pitch. 

Tumblers show in their plumage an endless va- 
negation of shade— reds, yellows, blues, duns, blacks, 
whites, and silvers. No expense should be spared 
at first for the purchase of two or more birds accus- 
tomed to very high flying, as they will be of infi. 
nite use afterwards, in teaching the young ones 



THE PIGEON. 51 

to be lofty soarers. After the pigeons have been ac- 
customed to their habitations, they should be turned 
out only once a day in a clear grey morning, when 
there is neither mist nor wind, taking care to spread 
out for them on their return a plentiful repast of 
rape or canary seed, to entice then home, and after- 
wards shutting them up for the rest of the day. 
They should, for an obvious reason, be closely con- 
fined when with egg. 

The Carrier was called by some of the old fan- 
ciers, the King of Pigeons. It is remarkable for the 
fleshy protuberance called the wattle on the lower 
part of the head. These triple properties have been 
enumerated as indicative of its excellence — three 
in the head, three in the eye, three in the wattle, 
and three in the beak. The head should be flat, 
straight, and long ; the eye broad, circular, and uni- 
form ; the wattle broad across the beak, short from 
the head to the bill,; and leaning forward ; the beak 
long, straight, and thick. Pigeon jockeyship some- 
times has attempted to imitate these qualities ar- 
tificially, and to palm upon the inexperienced in- 
ferior birds at the price of the best. The length 
and thinness of the neck are marks of its elegance. 

The Horseman is supposed to be a bastard between 
the Tumbler and Carrier : they are chiefly used at 
present for deciding bets, and carrying letters, the 
pure Carrier being so exceedingly scarce. 

Dragoons were originally bred between the Horse- 
man and Carrier ; they are very strong and useful 
birds ; being prolific breeders, and good nurses, they 
are frequently kept as feeders to rear young Pouters, 



52 THE PIGEON. 

Leghorn runts, &;c. For a distance of fifteen or 
twenty miles, the Dragoon is said to be more rapid 
than the Horseman, but cannot keep up its superiori- 
ty in a longer flight. 

But while on this part of our subject, it would 
not be doing justice to our readers, whether old or 
young, and it would be denying to ourselves a grat- 
ification, not to quote here the remarks of a corres- 
pondent, who signs himself Tolio, in the New Sport- 
ing Magazine for June, 1839. They are at once 
practical and scientific, and cannot fail to be inter- 
esting to every possessor of a pigeon loft^ who 
wishes to improve the breed or.'the value of hia stocks. 
He says with regard to this beautiful and valuable 
variety : 

" The first property of a Carrierjs the length of 
their flight or wing feathers, and the distance or 
length from the base of the bill to the end, which 
should always taper gradually. The colour is the 
next, and though fanciers disagree on this point, I 
prefer a blue to any other, as 1 have generally found 
them hardier and swifter than the blacks or duns, 
but, like dogs, good pigeons are to be found of all col- 
ours. Firmness of feather always indicates a good 
constitution. The age may be guessed by the size of 
the wattle, and the heavy appearance of the bird. 

" The Antwerps are a later introduction into this 
country, and their name bespeaks their origin. I 
believe little was known of them before the famous 
Antwerp match in July, 1830, when 110 birds were 
tossed from the yard of a noted fancier in the Bo- 
rough. The first bird reached Antwerp, a distance 



THE PIGEOW. 58 

of 186 miles, in five hours and a half, and gained the 
gold medal ; cut of the 110, about 100 reached home. 
To the eye of any one who has been solely accus- 
tomed to the English Carrier, they possess but little 
recommendation, but the fancier soon detects the 
points of speed and beauty, in the fine and lengthy 
shape of the bird. They are of many colours, 
but I have found none better than the nearly reds 
and blues. This bird, in my opinion, is equal to the 
Horseman in sagacity and speed, and altogether, I 
prefer them to any other kind. 

"The pigeon loft should always, if possible, face 
the west or south, be high and roomy, with railed pens 
to shut in birds for matching in the spring, or other 
purposes, kept well lime-washed, which will both 
destroy the insects, and keep it cool, and it should 
be repeatedly cleaned out. A glass tile or two in the 
roof, if it is a slanting one, will be useful to light 
the loft. 

There must be a railed trap projecting in front, 
so that the birds may go out from the loft, and the front 
of the trap will let down and pull up, by means of 
a spring inside. This is the dormer, and in most 
large lofts is out of the top of the roof. When the 
trap is shut the birds will come in at the wires, 
which open inwards to the loft, on a pivot, which is 
called the bolting wire. 

Of course, in stocking a loft, all depends upon 
its size and the taste of the fancier. I should say, 
six couples of Dragoons and strong Horsemen, and 
two couples of Beards w^ell matched, and purchased 
in the spring, will be a good breeding supply. These 



64 THE PIGEON. 

must be shut in the loft for breeding, and the young 
birds flown. They will begin breeding about the 
end of Febriary, and continue till October ; I would 
however, for flying, save no kinds till May. The 
old bird sits eighteen days, and the male relieves 
the female. Peas form their chief food, but tares 
will be found best for the young ones till they leave 
the nest. While watching the birds, give a little 
hemp-seed. Often before the young birds leave the 
nest, the old ones will lay again. As soon as the 
young can fly, they should be allowed to bask in the 
dormer, and when they have gained confidence, 
they will join the flight. After they have become 
well accustomed to the loft, and are able to keep 
pretty well with the flight, take them about half a mile 
from the loft in a bag made of coarse canvass, to 
hold two birds, with a little straw, and toss them ; re- 
peat the same distance for a few days, and gradually 
increase it up to five miles. After this they are pret- 
ty perfect, and two or three miles may be added to 
the distance every day. If your loft be near a high 
road, a great advantage will be found by giving the 
birds to the coachmen to toss. There are many 
ways of marking birds. I generally make a little 
notch in the beak or between the toes, in the 
game manner as game fowls. A little stamp with 
the initials of the name, to mark them in red on the 
tail and pinion feathers, will be useful till the birds 
moult. In tossing a bird, always clear its wings and 
feet, and holding it round the body and legs with 
one hand, throw it well up,— never near any trees, 
as the young ones will frequently perch and there 
remain. 



THE PIGEON. 55 

The speed of the Carrier has perhaps never been 
ascertained. I have had them come seven miles, by 
the roadt in five minutes, and forty miles in the 
hour is generally done ; but too much depends upon 
circumstances to give any opinion. 

If a bird is going to do a large distance, it should 
never be over-fed the night previous, but shut up in 
a dark pen. If possible, choose a clear day for toss- 
ing, for nothing beats pigeons like wind and fog. 
A real Carrier will seldom stop till he reaches home. 
If they are regularly flown, well fed and watered, 
and kept clean, few diseases will be known in the 
loft. Let them have a large tin pan to wash in, 
change the water every day, and a lump of salt to 
peck at. 

The canker in the wattle is their worst disease, 
and frequently arises from dirt or from the birds 
fighting. The best cure is a piece of bitter aloes 
of the size of a pea, given inwardly, and the day 
after wash the wattle with warm water, and in the 
evening wash the sore with lead ammoniac, and burnt 
alum, mixed with lemon juice, till cured. Tobacco 
smoke will be found useful to clear the loft from 
vermin. 

The value of birds will frequently depend more 
on the fancy of the buyer, than on their real merit. 
In first stocking a loft, I would never be too parti- 
cular about price, as a good breeding stock is 
worth more than half the latter. It would be diffi- 
cult to fix any price as a general guide ; I have 
known Horsemen fetch £5 a pair, though good ones 
may be bought for £2, and Dragoons will fetch all 



56 THE PIGEON. 

prices from 5s to <£5 a couple. Beards are usually 
the cheapest, and Antwerps are to be bought at few- 
fanciers, and frequently bring high prices. Of 
course much depends upon the shape and colour, 
but birds of a good strain will always fetch their 
price among the fancy. 

I shall confine my remarks to the flyers, and say 
nothing about the tory kinds, which include Tum- 
blers, Pouters, Jacobins, and many other species, which 
are held by their respective fanciers in as high es- 
timation as the best Carriers. Of the whole species, 
Pouters fetch the highest prices. An amateur, who 
has never attended a London pigeon show, would 
be astonished at the prices set on the birds by their 
owners ; and I know no prettier sight than a pen 
of good Horsemen or Dragoons. 

Like all other fancies, that of the pigeon will be 
found both troublesome and expensive ; but this will 
be fully compensated for, by the amusement afford, 
ed in rearing and flying the birds, and I think that 
every real lover of this bird will agree with me, 
that an hour may be spent much less profitably and 
usefully, than in the pigeon loft. 

The Pouter is a very common but most interest- 
ing bird. It is remarkable for its local attachment, 
and although not a good breeder, and exceedingly 
apt to degenerate, it is very useful about the pigeon- 
house, by leading the other birds to form a stronger 
house and home. Some of them can distend their 
crops to a very great size, so much so as frequently 
to overbalance themselves. By judicious crossing and 
patient perseverance, some fanciers have brought 



TUB PIGEON. 57 

these birds to so high a point of perfection as to sell 
them for twenty guineas a pair. They are very bad 
nurses, and it is difficult to rear their young without 
the aid of the Dragoon. When a Pouter has laid 
an egg at the same time with a Dragoon, they should 
be carefully transferred from the one to the other, it 
being necessary to allow the Pouter to sit, otherwise 
she would continue to lay, which in a short time 
would cause her emaciation and death. If bred in 
and in, they quickly degenerate and become worth- 
less, new kinds must therefore be got by purchase 
or exchange, to prevent the deteriorating effects of 
too close a consanguineous connexion. The contra- 
ry is the case with the Almond Tumbler, which, the 
more it ia bred in and in, only dimiiushes in size, 
and is accordingly enhanced in beauty and value. 

The Fan-tail is a very beautiful bird, sometimes, 
on account of its frequent tremulous movemenl of the 
neck, called the Broadtailed Shaker. When perfect, 
its tail consists of not less than twenty. four or more 
than thirty. six feathers, which it keeps spread and 
always erect, for if they are but for once allowed to 
drop, it is a fault never overlooked and never forgiv- 
en. A very slender-necked, full-breasted, and large* 
tailed bird, carrying the latter gracefully, is of very 
great value. The plumage is agreeably white, but 
there is also a great variety of colours. 

The Jacohine is a bird very scarce, and difficult to 
be found of a good sort. It is sometimes called 
Jack, and is a very small bird. It has a range of 
inverted feathers on the back of the head, somewhat 
resembling in form the cowl of a monk, or the ruff of 
5 



58 THE PIGEON. 

a cavalier, and hence its name. This range of 
feathers is called the hood — and the closer and more 
compact it grows to the head the greater is the value 
of the bird. The lower part of what is called the 
chain and the feathers that compass it, should be 
short and thick. There is a great variety of colour 
among them, but the yellows always obtain prece- 
dence. 

Besides these we have enumerated, an almost end- 
less variety of names has been given to some where 
the shades of difference are very slight. With these 
the young pigeon. keeper should have as little to do 
as possible. Even with the commonest assortment 
he can buy at the market or from a companion, he 
will soon have a sufficient variety, and many to 
please his eye with sufficient beauty ; and if it is ne- 
cessary to assign them names, he can easily baptize 
them himself without consulting the vocabularies of 
the London fanciers. 

Plucking o}ie of the wings of old strangers to in- 
duce them to haunt or to prevent them from their 
vagabondizing propensities, sometimes manifested by 
old inmates, is better than cutting, as their power of 
flight comes on gradually as the feathers grow, and 
they become f^imihar with and fond of the features 
of the locality within a limited range of which they 
have thus been for a time confined. We have al- 
most always seen this mode succeed in our own ex- 
perience, although the reports of others all tend to 
the superiority of endeavouring to haunt young in 
preference to olJ h'ndfl, which is certainly surer and 
safer, but the other may also he tried, as the old 



TIIS PIGEON. 59 

ones may begin to breed as soon as their wing is 
grown, which only takes about a month, whereas 
six times that period must be waited for before e^gs 
can be expected from the young ones. If a hen hap. 
pens to be lost, it is seldom that the cock remains 
long behind, — but the very contrary happens with 
the loss of the cock. The hen sets out in search of 
a mate, and she will soon be seen wiling a male 
companion — widowed in all probability in some other 
dovecote — homeward to her own residence, where 
they speedily pair. 

4. Diseases of Pigeons. — The most of fancy pi- 
geons being monstrous productions, are peculiarly 
subject to disease. Girton enumerates upwards of 
a dozen, with their appropriate remedies, including 
corruption of the egg in uterus from over-high feed- 
ing, — a gorged crop, from voracious feeding, — in- 
sects, from filthiness in the pigeon-houses, — and the 
canker, from cocks fighting with each ocr. r. Little 
can be done in the way of curing these diseases, ex- 
cept by their recurrence to proper regimen, and 
if this does not produce the desired effect, it is bet- 
ter to put the bird liars de 'peine., both for the sake of 
humanity and to prevent the spread of infection. 
Fortunately the common pigeon, reared for the sake 
of the table, is but little liable to any of these disor- 
ders. 

5. Laws regarding Pigeons. — By the 1 of James, 
chap. 27, shooting, or destroying pigeons by other 
means, is, on the evidence of two witnesses, punisha- 
ble by a fine of 20 shillings for every bird killed or ta- 
ken ; and by the 2 of George III. c. 29, the same of- 



60 THE PIGEO:^. 

fence may be'proved by one witness, and the fine is 
20 shillings to the prosecutor. 

According to 7 and 8 Geo. 4, c. 29, sect. 33, per- 
sons iinlavvtully killing, wounding, or taking any 
house-dove (>r pigeon, under such circumstances as do 
not amount to larceny, at common law, shall forfeit 
over and above the value of the bird, any sum not ex- 
ceeding forty shillings. Occupiers of land may law- 
fully kill pigeons destroying corn. 

At the Westminster Court of Requests, in Feb- 
ruary, 1829, a decision was made against trapping 
pigeons, the defendant being amerced in the price of 
the birds he had entrapped. 

Any lord of the manor, or freeholder, may build a 
pigeon-house on his own land, but it cannot be done 
by the tenant without the lord's permission. Shoot- 
ing or killing within a certain distance of the pigeon- 
house, renders the transgressor liable to forfeiture. 
I. The remarks of Mr. Cobbet, on the subject of pi- 
geons, are very sensible, short, founded on good au- 
thority, and worthy of attention. 

"A few of them may be kept," he says, "about 
any cottage, for they are kept even in towns by la- 
bourers and artizans. They cause but little trouble. 
They take care of their own young, and they do not 
scratch, or do any other mischief in gardens. They 
want feeding with tares, peas, or small beans ; and 
buck-wheat is very good for them. To begm keep- 
ing them, they must not have flown at large before 
you get them. You must keep them for two or three 
days shut into the place which is to be their home ; 
and then they may be let out, and will never leave 



THE PIGEON. 61 

you, as long as they can get proper food, and are un- 
disturbed by vermin, or unannoyed exceedingly by 
lice. The common dove-house pigeons are the best 
to keep. They breed oftenest, and feed their young 
ones best. They begin to breed at about ?iine months 
old, and if well kept, they will give j'^ou eight or 
nine pair in the year. Any little place, a shelf in 
the cow shed ; a board or two under the eaves of the 
house ; or, in short, any place under cover, even on 
the ground Hoor, they will sit and hatch and breed up 
their young ones in. 

" It is not supposed that there could be much profit 
attached to them ; but they are of this use. they 
are very pretty creatures ; very interesting in their 
manners ; they are an object to delight children, and 
to give them the eai'ly habit of fondness for animals 
and of setting a value on them, which, as I have often 
had to observe before, is a very great thing. A con- 
siderable part of all the jiroperty of a nation consists 
of animals. Of course a proportionate part of the 
cares and labours of a people appertains to the breed- 
ing and bringing to perfection those animals ; and, if 
you consult your experience, you will iind that a la- 
bourer is, generally speaking, of value in proportion 
as he is worthv of beins: intrusted with the care of 
animals. The most careless fellow cannot hurt a 
hedge or ditch ; but to trust him with the team or the 
Jlock, is another matter. And, mind, for the man 
to be trust-worthy in this respect, the hoy must have 
been in the habit of being kind and considerate to- 
wards animals ; and nothing is so likely to give 
him that excellent habit as his seeing, from hia 



62 THE PIGEON. 

very birth, animals taken great care of, and treated 
with great kindness, by his parents, and now-and- 
then having a little thing to call his ownP 

Yet, notwithstanding the protection thus afforded 
them by law, and the opinion thus expressed of 
their value, by one who had not the highest reverence 
for legislative wisdom, it is lamentable to think how 
much this poor persecuted emblem of innocence has 
been made to administer to the base and depraved 
propensities of some of the lower members of the 
modern sporting world. 

Chalk Farm has risen into a new, and as little to be 
envied, notoriety, by men now shooting pigeons 
there, as tools, with a greater regard at least to jus- 
tice, stood to shoot at one another, for the poor pi- 
geon has less chance against a crack cockney shot, 
than the duellist against the hair-trigger of his anta- 
gonist. The trembling hand, or the leadless barrel 
of the latter, may insure safety, but dozens of pigeons, 
despite their power of wing, and speed of flight, are 
brought down merely for the settlement of some quar- 
relling bets, or as the prelude to some tavern dinner, 
or tivern brawl, or the formation of a new match, 
where the same degrading scenes are to be repeated 
over again. Let it not be said there is no more 
harm in shooting a pigeon, than in pulling its neck. 
In point of morality, they are wide as the poles asun- 
der. In every act regard the agent's end, and in 
the latter we see but a fulfihnent of the destinies of 
nature, but in the other the fostering of vice, the 
indulgence of cruelty, and an administration to the 
basest passions of mankind. 



THE PIGEON. 63 

Our readers may have read much in the periodi- 
cals of the day, of Battersea-fieids, the chief theatre 
of the sport of pigeon shooting. In the words well 
expressed of a well-informed writer, " That few peo- 
ple, even those accustomed to reflect on animal suf- 
ferings, are aware of those of the wretched town- 
pigeon ; harassed about from its first quitting the 
nest, through the rough hands of scores of unfeeling 
blackguards ; its feathers pulled, its wings bracedt 
starved, and forced to fly against its inclination, match- 
ed, then unmatched, and its dearest ties broken ; 
sold, resold, exposed in cages, immersed in cellars, 
coal-holes, and loaded with every misery which can 
be inflicted by the wanton caprice, neglect, and 
beastly ignorance of the two-legged race, its tyrants." 
British Field Sports. — It is better not to be initated 
into the fancy pigeon " Cultivation" at all, or mere- 
ly to keep pigeons for the use of the table, with the 
additional pleasure to be derived from contemplating 
their flight, with a degree of attention to those birds 
M'hich are of the largest size, and most beautiful ap- 
pearance. The best authenticated Treatise on Do- 
mestic Pigeons, especially regarding the fancy varie- 
ties, was published by Barry of Fenchurch Street, 
in 1765, containing also some very good descriptive 
plates. That Treatise has been succeeded by Moore's 
Columbarium, and some others, founded on their 
authority. 

6. Economy of Pigeons. — The only breeds worth 
keeping, exclusive of the common sort, are Tiimhlersy 
Horsemen, Carrieis, Turtles, Dragoons, (commonly 
called Dragons), and Runts — the latter both Spanish 



64 THE PIGEON. 

and Leghorn, for their great size. As breeders, no 
fancy pigeons will in general equal the common 
dove-house kind, unless perhaps with great care and 
attention. 

The pigeon is monogamous ; that is, the male at- 
taches once, confines himself to one female, and the 
attachment is reciprocal — the fidelity of the dove to 
its mate being proverbial. Yet it will be often seen 
that the most bitter hate and deadly hostility prevail 
among them. One will at times assume the reins 
of even worse than eastern despotism, and tyrannize 
it over the rest with the utmost cruelty. Then all 
the symptoms of innocence disappear; all the stand- 
ards of peace are furled; persecution, anarchy, and 
confusion, usurp their place. This often arises from 
the intrusion of a stranger, for it should be remarked 
that pigeons have a proud as well as a generally 
peaceful disposition, or rather they have, when once 
attached to it, so much of the amor dormi as resent, 
fully to resist the intrusion of a stranger, to lay 
aside for a season their peaceful nature, and to take 
up arms in resistance of a foreign invasion. Some- 
times the intruder — especially if a strong, old, illna- 
tured cock — Vv^ill either succeed in putting the whole 
of the native residents to the rout, or at least in giv- 
ing them no peace at home. In this he succeeds by 
attacking them singly, as soon as one appears upon 
the lighting board, or if he chance to reign for a mo- 
ment there alone, by darting fiercely upon the first in- 
dividual that appears upon an adjoining roof. Pi- 
geons do not seem to be aware of the power of com- 
bination, or to have learned the doctrine that union 



THE PIGEON. 65 

is strength, or a couple attacking such a fellow con- 
jointly would annihilate him at once. But in such 
a case the only resource of the owner is to look to 
the instant destruction of the intruder, and it is only 
pigeons possessed of such a character that we would 
ever wish to see consigned to the sportsmen of Chalk 
Farm and Battersea-fields. 

Young pigeons are termed squeakers, and begin to 
breed about the age of six months, when properly 
managed. Their courtship, and the well known tone 
of voice in the cock, just then acquired and commenc- 
ing, are indications of their approaching union. 
Nestlings, whilst fed by the cock and hen, are termed 
squabs, and are at that ago sold and used for the ta- 
ble. The Dove-house pigeon is said to breed month- 
ly, being well supplied with food, more particularly 
when the ground is bound by frost or covered with 
snow. At any rate, it may be depended on, that pi- 
geons of almost any healthy and well established va- 
riety, will breed eight or ten times in the year ; 
whence it may be conceived how immense are the 
quantities which may be raised. 

It is nevertheless with difficulty that entire credit 
can be given to the calculations with respect to the 
increase either of pigeons or rabbits — bringing to our 
remembrance, to compare small things with great, 
the earths of gold of the celebrated Doctor Price, 
which have been so greatly reduced in number and 
weight by subsequent doctors. But we cannot ques- 
tion the positive testimony of Stillingfleet, who as- 
serts that fourteen thousand seven hundred and sixty 
pigeons were produced from one single pair, in the 



66 THE PIGEON. 

course of four years. To class things of a similar 
bearing together, it has been calculated (but by whom, 
or on whut practical ground, is not well known,) 
that a single pair of rabbits may produce one mil- 
lion two hundred and seventy-four thousand eight 
hundred and forty of their kind ! This is a question 
however more specuhitive than practical, and any 
one who commences with a couple of pairs, if they 
once proceed successfully, will lind the increase suf- 
ficiently great to satisfy any reasonable expectation, 
and to answer all domestic purposes which they 
are intended to serve. 

7. The Dove Cote. — The first step towards pigeon- 
keeping is undoubtedly to provide a commodious 
place for their reception ; the next, to provide the 
pigeons themselves. These will be bred in pairs, 
but if not actually inatched, pairs must be afterwards 
taken for that purpose, that no time may be lost ; 
indeed, they may bo matched according to the fancy 
of the keepers, for the purpose of varying the co- 
l<mrs, or with any other view. But it is necessary 
to give a caution on the subject of old pigeons^ of 
which a bargain may offer, since the difficulty of re- 
turning them is so great, indeed insuperable, without 
the strictest vigilance. Nothing short of cutting or 
pulling their wing, and confining them closely, per- 
haps until they have young to attach them to the 
place, will be a security; and even afterwards, they 
have been known to take flight with the first use of 
their wings, and leave their nests. Thence it is al- 
ways preferahle to purchase Sqi/eakarSf or such as 
have not yet flown ; these being confined, in a short 



THE PIGEOX. 67 

time, well fed, and accustomed gradually to the sur- 
rounding scenery, before they liave acquired suffi- 
cient strength of wing wherewith to lose themselves, 
will become perfectly domesticated. 

The Dove Cote, or pigeon-loft, as to its situation 
or extent, will necessarily depend on convenience ; 
one general rule^ however, must be invarieibly ob- 
served' — that every pair of pigeons have two holes, or 
rooms, to rest in. Without this indispensable con- 
venience, there will be no security, but the prospect 
of constant confusion, breaking of eggs, and des- 
truction of the young. Pigeons do well near dwel- 
lings, stables, bake-houses, granaries, brew houses or 
such offices : or their proper place is in the poul- 
try court. 

A dove cote is a good object situated upon an 
island, in the centre of a piece of water ; indeed, 
such is a proper situation for aquatic poultry, and 
rabbits also ; and may be rendered extremely beau- 
tiful and picturesque by planting, and a little simple, 
ornamental, and useful building. Where pigeons 
are kept in a room, some persons prefer making their 
nests upon the floor, to escape the danger of the young 
falling out ; but in all probability, this is to guard 
against one risk, and incur a greater danger, parti- 
cularly that of rats and other vermin. 

The front of the pigeon-room, or cote, should, if 
possible, have a south-west aspect ; and if a room be 
selected for the purpose, it Is usual to o^eak a hole in 
the roof of the building, as a passage for the pigeons, 
which can be closed at conveniv? << phitforra 

is laid by the carpenter at the entrance, for the pi- 



68 THE PIGEON. 

geonsto alight and perch upon, with some kind of de- 
fence against cats, which will often depopulate a 
whole dove-house. Cats are yet necessary for the 
defence of the pigeons against rats and mice, as they 
will both destroy the birds and suck the eggs ; 
thence cats of a known good breed should be train- 
ed up familiarly with the pigeons. Yet still, espe- 
cially in towns, they are exposed to great danger 
from strange cats, belonging to neighbours. These 
will often find their way to the best guarded and 
best constructed pigeon-loft, from a great distance, 
and by peculiar stratagems, to which their instinct 
naturally leads them. Even when situated on the top 
of a lofty house we have known a whole flock destroy- 
ed or scared for ever from the place in a single night. 
Unless the house is completely isolated, there is no 
security for the pigeons for a single night, however 
long danger may have been previously escaped. In 
such circumstances a box, fastened to the wall near 
a window, will afford the greatest security, and suf- 
ficient convenience both for observation, amusement, 
and profit. 

White being a favourite colour with pigeons, the 
platform must be so painted, and their boxes also ; 
and the paint renewed as often as necessary, as the 
whiter their abode is, it adds the more towards its 
being a guide to them in their flight homeward. A 
portion of lime and water may be sufficient to reno- 
vate whiteness. 

Cleanliness is one of the firiSt and most important 
considerations; the want of it will soon render the 
dovc-cotc a nuisance, and the birds, both young and 



THE PIGEOIN'. 69 

old, will be so covered with vermin, and besmeared 
with their own excrement, that they can enjoy no 
health or comfort, and mortality is often so induced. 
Ours were daily cleaned ; thoroughly once a week, 
a tub standing at hand for the reception of the dung, 
the floor covered with sifted gravel, often renewed. 
Pigeons are exceedingly fond of water, and, having 
a prescience of rain, they will be waiting until after 
sun. set, and spreading forth their wings, as in anxiety 
to be refreshed by the coming shower. When they 
are confined in a room, a fresh supply of water should 
be allowed them every day ; it cools and refreshes, 
and assists them to keep their bodies clear from ver- 
min. 

Great caution is necessary with respect to the 
pigeons fighting, to which they are more prone than 
might be supposed ; and it leads often to the destruc- 
tion of eggs or young, and driving the weakest away. 
The common barrel dove-cote needs no description 
however we will give a short sketch of it, for the 
benefit of our juvenile readers. 

The common Barrel Dove-cote is erected on a light 
staff or pole, adapted to every situation in which 
it is desirable to keep pigeons for ordinary use. To 
return to the room or Jofti the shelves should be 
placed sufficiently high, for security against vermin, 
a small ladder being a necessary appendage. The 
usual breadth of the shelves is about twenty inches, 
with the allowance of eio;hteen between shelf and 
shelf, which will be sufficient not to incommode the 
tallest pigeon. Partitions between the shelves may 
be fixed at the distance of about three ^QQij making 



70 THE PIGEON. 

a blind, by a board nailed against the front of each 
partition, whence there will be two nests in the com- 
pass of every three feet, so that the pigeons will sit 
in privacy ; or a partition may be fixed between each 
nest — a good plan, which prevents the young run- 
ning to the hen, sitting over fresh eggs, and perhaps 
occasioning her to cool and addle them ; for when 
the young are about a fortnight or three weeks old, 
a good hen will leave them to the care of the cock, 
and lay again. Some prefer breeding holes, entirely 
open in front, for the greater convenience in clear- 
ing the nests ; but it is from those that the squabs 
are likely to fall, thence a step of sufficient height is 
preferable. Tiie tame pigeon seldom taking the 
trouble to make a nest, it is better to give her one 
of hay, which prevents her eggs from rolling. A bas- 
ket, or an unglazed earthen pan, may be placed in 
every nest, apportioned to the size of the pigeon you 
breed. A pan of three inches high, eight over the 
top, and sloping towards the bottom like a basin, 
will be sufficiently large for a Tumbler, whilst one of 
double those dimensions will be required for a Runt. 
A brick ought always to be placed near enough the 
pan, to enable the cock and hen to alight with safe- 
ty upon the eggs. The Pigeon-trap on the house-top, 
is the well known contrivance of those London ras- 
cals who lie in wait to entrap the property of others. 
A trap of another description, but for a very differ- 
ent purpose, is sometimes used ; it is an area, on the 
outside of a building, for the purpose of confining 
in open air, valuable braces of pigeons which cannot 
be trusted to ffight. Some are erected to the extent 



THE PIGEON. 71 

of twenty yards long, and ten yards in width, with 
shelves on every side, for the perching of the pi- 
geons ; thus they are constcintly exercised in the 
air, retiring at pleasure to the room or loft within. 
Very convenient baskets are now made in the crudle 
form, with separate apartments, and serve for the 
carriage of pigeons, for matching, putting them up 
to fatten, or any other of the usual purposes. Food 
and water should be given in such a way as to b^; as 
little as possible contaminated with the excrement, 
or any other inipurity. If pigeons arc constantly at- 
tended to, there is no need of any other convenience 
than earthen nans : there have been ing-enious inven- 
tions for this purpose, of which the meat box and wa- 
ter bottle following are specimens. The meat-box 
is formed in shape of a hopper, covered at top to 
keep clean the grain, which descends into a square 
•hallow box. Some fence this with rails or holes 
on each side, to keep the grains trom being scattered 
over; others leave it quite open, that the young pi- 
geons may the more easily find their food. Tiie wa- 
ter-bottle is made to contain from one to five gallons, 
it has a long neck, and a body shaped like an egg, so 
as to prevent the pigeons from lighting on it, and 
dunging it. It is placed upon a stand, made hollow 
above, to receive the bottle, and let the mouth into 
a small pan beneath : the water will, in such wi.-je, 
gradually descend froai the mouth of the bottle as the 
pigeons drink, be sweet and clean, and always stop 
when the surface reaches the mouth of the bottle. 

8. Matching J or Pairing and Breeding of Pigeons. — 
To match or pair a cock and hen, it is necessary to 



72 TflK PIGEON. 

shut them up together, and within reach of each oth- 
er ; and the connexion is generally formed in a day 
or two. Various rules have been laid down, by 
which to distinguish the cock from the hen pigeon ; 
but the masculine forwardness and action of the cock 
is, for the most part, distintjuishable. Incuhation,—- 
The great increase of domestic pigeons does not pro- 
ceed from the number of eggs laid by them, but from 
the frequency of their hatching. The hen lays but 
two eggs, and immediately proceeds to incubation. 
Having laid her first egg she rests one day, and on 
the next lays her second one. They usually stand 
over the first Ggg^ not setting close until they have 
two, whence both the young are hatched nearly at 
the same time. There are some exceptions, how- 
ever, to this rule of nature, and the lien having sat 
close at first, one young bird may be hatched before 
the other. They often spoil their first eggs from in- 
experience. The period of incuhation is nineteen or 
twenty days from laying the first Qgg^ and seventeen 
or eighteen from the second. The duty of setting is 
shared equally between the cock and hen, excepting 
that the hen always sits by night. She is relieved in 
the morning by the cock, which sits during the great- 
er part of the day. The business of feeding the 
young? is^ also divided between the parents, and the 
cock hag often brought up the young, on the accident- 
al loss of his mate. Should the eggs not be hatched 
in due time, from weakness, some small assistance 
may be necessary to extricate the bird from the 
shell ; or should they be addled, it is generally held 
necessary to provide the cock and hen with a bor- 



THE PIGEON. 73 

rowed pair of young ; or at least one, to feed off 
their soft meat, which else mav stasnate in their 
crops, and make them sick ; but as young ones may 
not always be at hand for this purpose, the exercise 
of flying, fresh gravel, and those saline compositions 
generally given to pigeons, are the proper remedies. 
Addled, or rotten eggs should ba imtncdiately remov- 
ed. Pigeons are extremely liable to be lost by ac- 
cident, and that which is unaccountable, although 
they will find their home from such great distance, 
they nevertheless often lose themselves in their own 
neighbourhood. Should a pair be lost during incu- 
bation, the eggs will spoil in twenty or thirty hours, 
and may then be taken from the^nest ; but if the ac- 
cident happen after hatching, the parent left will 
feed the young. The young are easily accustomed 
to be fed by the hand, should both parents happen to 
be lost. For this purpose barley should seldom be 
tried, as tares and small peas are far preferable. A 
hollow reed through which the food should be squirt- 
ed into their mouths, is an old practice, but more 
honoured in the breach than in the observance. 

That sort of milky fluid secreted in the crop of pi- 
geons, during the latter period of the process of incu- 
bation, and commonly called soft meat, has been 
wisely intended by the wisdom of Providence as a 
suitable provision at the proper time for the nourish- 
ment of their young. It is probable that at this 
period the breeding pigeons eat a greater quantity of 
food than is required for their own support, and what 
does not pass through the digestive process is left in 
the crop, where it softens, and is melted into a milky 
6 



74 THE riGEON. 

pap. This at pleasure they have the power of throw, 
ing up, and in feeding, they inject it into the bills 
of the young from their own, those of the young hav- 
ing been inserted into those of the old. This kind 
of feeding continues six or seven days, when the old 
ones begin to mix some harder food with it, until at 
length thoy feed with whole grain. When the time 
approaches for the hen to lay, the cock is often seen 
driving her from place to place, not suffering her to 
rest any where but in her nest, apparently from an 
instinctive apprehension that she may drop her egg 
in an improper place. 

9. Food of Pigeons. — Pigeons are very cleanly in 
their habits, and entirely granivorous in their diet. 
Sometimes they will eat green vegetables, particular- 
ly warm salad, but are more particularly addicted to 
dry and ripened grain, on which alone they can thrive 
well and long. Tares, peas, and the smallest kind 
of black or brown beans, commonly called pigeon 
beans, are good, but as new pulse is apt to scour 
them, as well as all other kinds of live stock, care 
should be taken that they are completely dry, and of 
the previous year's growth. As seeds are sometimes 
given to pigeons, to warm and stimulate them, rape 
or canary should always be preferred to hemp-seed, 
and to the former, the pigeons themselves show a 
decided preference. Beans sodden in salt water 
have a tendency to scour pigeons as much as new 
beans ; and on a sea voyage, they will soon be killed 
if permitted to drink salt water. Although they, 
as well as vegetation, are so much profited by salt, 
an excess of it is equally fatal to both. 



THE PIGF.OJf. 75 

The term applied to beans, is frequently misrepre- 
sented by writers, and mistaken by feeders. Small 
tick beans are recommended by the one and used by 
the other, instead of small horse-beans. Now the 
tick or kidwell, in the western phrase, are the larger 
of the two common field varieties, and besides being 
inferior in quality, are too large for pigeons, which 
have been sometimes choked even with the com- 
mon-size horse beans ; on which account the small- 
est possible should be procured, whence such are 
termed in the market accounts, "pigeon beans." 
Peas, wheat, and buck-wheat, or brank, are eaten 
by pigeons : but should be given only in alternations, 
not as their constant diet. Of seeds, the same may be 
said. Upon the olfictory nerves of pigeons, as also 
their palates, the strong scent of cumine and of asa- 
fcetida, with other odoriferous drugs, the flower of 
the coriander, and other seeds, have a powerful and 
alluring effect; to fumigate the dove-cot with these 
will not only attach the pigeons more strongly to 
home, but will also allure strangers that may be wan- 
dering about in search of a habitation. 

The last dietetic, or rather, perhaps, medicinal 
article necessary to be described, is the salt cat, 
so called from some old fancy of baking a real cat 
with spices, for the use of pigeons, which, however, 
I never observed to eat animal food. In compliance 
with this custom, I caused to be placed in the mid- 
dle of the pigeon-loft, a dish of the following compo. 
eition : loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, bay-salt, 
cumine, coriander, carraway seed, and alspice, mois- 
tened into the consistence with urine. The pigeons 



7o TIIR PIGKON. 

were constantly picking at this, were in a constant 
state of good liealth: how much of which may be 
attributed to the usr of the cat, I cannot determine ; 
but, certainly, they are extremely fond of it, and if 
it had no other merit, it prevents them from picking 
the mortar from the roof of the house, to which 
otherwise they are much inclined. The cat was 
mixed and heaped up in the dish, a piece of board being 
placed upon the summit, to prevent the birds from 
dunging upon it : when become too hard, it was oc- 
casionally broken for them. 

The regular old formula for this cat is as fol- 
lows ; gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, the rub- 
bish of an old wall, or lime, a gallon of each — should 
lime be substituted for rubbish, a less quantity of 
the former will suffice — one pound of cumine-seed, 
one handful of bay salt ; nux with stale urine. In- 
close this in jars, corked or stopped, holes being 
punched in the sides, to admit the beaks of the pi- 
geons. These may be placed abroad. 

10. Uses of Pigeons. — The pigeons must have 
been principally intended to form a part of the food 
of man. In health, it is to hitn a d dicate luxury on 
his table and in sickness it sometimes forms his only 
diet when the heart loathes all else besides. In the 
olden times, numerous fanciful medicinal properties 
were assigned to the iles'n of the pigeon. Almost 
every part of its body from head to rump had its pe- 
culiar and appropriate remedial function assigned to 
it ; and although all of this has been long and justly 
repudiated as old wives' fables, that the pigeon forms 
a piquant and nourishing diet, no one doubts. When 



THE PIGEON. 77 

young and in good condition, they are tender to the 
palate of tlie infant, and stimulating to the appetite 
of the invalid, but when old, more heating and dif- 
ficult of digestion, although more substantial and 
nourishing. The general rule that the colour of the 
plumage affects the qualities of the flesh, is peculiar- 
ly true of the pigeon. The blue and dark-feathered 
are proportionably tinged in the colour of their flesh, 
and are of high flavour, approaching to the game bit- 
ter of the wild pigeon. Light and delicate flesh ia 
invariably associated with white and silvery colour 
of the feathers. Whether for manure or medical 
purposes, their excrements are of a peculiarly heat- 
ing nature. When saltpetre was almost entirely 
manuftictured at home, it formed a principal ingre- 
dient in the composition of nitre bods. 

Although we have already incidentally taken notice 
of the flight of pigeons, and some of their achieve- 
ments in this capacity, that subject seems to demand 
still more explicit notice here, ns it has sometimes 
been made the means both of public and of private 
utility. Even the most common Carriers, Horsemen, 
Dragoons, and sometimes Tumblers, are thrown oflT 
at a distance of forty miles from home. This dis- 
tance generally takes from an hour and a half to 
three hours, although in three successive hours a 
journey of ninety miles has been performed — an 
achievement to m hich no other animal known to man 
is equal, and which it is doubtful if either the pow- 
er of steam or of any other agent will be ever able 
to surpass. A Dragoon has flown seventy. six miles 
in two hours and a half: this ancient fancy of flying 



73 THE PIGEON. 

pigeons had declined, but has, it seems, revived 
within a few years. The admired qualities in the 
Tumbler are excessive high flight, so as to be almost 
imperceptible to the keenest eye, in fine and clear 
weather, perseverance in their flight for many hours 
together, and tumbling over and over repeatedly du- 
ing their ascent and descent. 



THE RABBIT. 



Rabbits are delicate, tender, and cleanly crea- 
tures. In a state of nature they are active and har- 
dy, living in the midst of apparent barrenness, and 
requiring nothing for their support but what the 
most stunted soil is able to afford. The wild rabbit 
is almost invariably of a grey colour, and for the ta- 
ble is generally preferred to the best fed and most 
beautiful varieties reared in the hutch. It bears 
some striking analogies to the hare — although in its 
habits and constitutional peculiarities it manifests as 
striking diversities. To agricultural produce in the 
neighbourhood of extensive preserves, they are found 
to be very destructive, as they will often travel in 
flocks to a considerable distance in search of food. 
To farmers situated near a rabbit-warren they are a 
great nuisance, as in their marauding excursions, 
when they find the soil and corn to their liking, they 
will settle down and speedily breed in sufficient 
numbers to colonize a new district. Where there 
are extensive wastes, downs covered with arid ver- 
dure, sand, or rocky shores, the rabbit however be- 
comes a valuable property. The march of improve- 



80 THE RABBIT. 

ment has banished them from many of their wonted 
haunts in Scotland — streets and villas now rearing 
their heads on the very spot where the untamed cony 
used to burrow and to gambol. Within a few miles 
of Edinburgh, and that too in the course of a few 
years, the site of a rabbit-warren has been converted 
into a borough and a parliamentary town, whose na- 
tives, instead of being shot or snared, it has been the 
delight of two Lord Advocates of Scotland to repre- 
sent in the British Senate — the glories of Rabbit-hall 
have been dimmed, and in vain are their haunts to be 
sought for, at Park-House or Pitt-Street. 

1. The Wild Rabbit. — Those kept in a domestica- 
ted state are always larger, with more variegated 
colouring and peculiar points of conformation than 
the wild or warren rabbit. In some warrens a few 
black, black and white, and even fawn-coloured rab- 
bits, are to be found, but the general colour is grey. 
The flesh of wild rabbits is more delicate, with more 
of the game flavour, and in general preferred to the 
tame. By judicious feeding, and affording the ani- 
mals good air and sufficient room for exercise, the 
domesticated kinds may however be much improved 
m the firmness and flavour of the flesh. 

The wild rabbit is said to breed eleven times in 
the year. This is possible, but not very probable. In 
general they produce eight young ones each time, 
and at this rate a couple of rabbits would produce 
in four years a progeny of nearly a million and a 
half. When domesticated, the rabbit is much more 
profitable than in a wild state, even with all this 
fecundity, for a prudent keeper will look more to the 



THE KABBIT. 81 

quality than to the number of the produce. Six or 
eight litters in the year is in general deemed suffi- 
cient. These by proper nursing will turn out to bet- 
ter account at the end of the year than the more nu- 
merous offspring of the wild rabbit. Many of the 
wild rabbits are destroyed by damp, by the buck, 
and by the numerous four-footed enemies to which 
they are exposed. In a state of nature they are the 
most defenceless of creatures, and if it were not for 
their prolific nature the whole race would speedily 
become extinct. 

2. Common Domestic Rabbits. — Common domestic 
rabbits are of every variety of colour. Their prices 
depend upon their age, size, and beauty. In some 
parts of the east coast of England, they can be bought 
when young for two shillings a dozen, but in London 
they generally cost from a sixpence to a shilling 
each. The average value of a half grown or full 
grown rabbit of a large size is from half a crown to 
four shillings. In keeping common rabbits, one 
of the principal objects besides the amusement they 
afford to children is, to provide a dish for the table ; 
therefore those who trade in rabbits pay as much at- 
tention to the quality of the flesh as to the colour of 
the skin. 

As to the varieties of form and colour in the rab- 
bit, the short. legged, witli width and substance of 
loin, generally few in number, and to be obtained 
only by selection, are the most hardy, and fatten 
most expeditiously, taking on tat both internally and 
in the muscular flesh. They have besides the sound- 
est livers, rabbits being generally subject to defects 



82 THE RABBIT. 

of the liver, and they are the smallest variety. There 
was formerly a very large variety of the hare colour, 
having much bone, length and depth of carcase, large 
and long ears, with large eyes resembling those of the 
hare. They might well be takien lor hybrid or 
mules, did not their breeding militate against the 
idea. Their flesh is high coloured, substantial, and 
more savoury than that of the common rabbit : and 
they make a good dish, cooked like the hare, which, 
at six or eight months old, they nearly equal in size. 
Of late years this large variety has become very 
scarce. The large white, and yellow and white spe- 
cies, have whiter and more delicate flesh, and cook- 
ed in the same way will rival the turkey. 

With respect to colour, the wild colour and black 
are preferred, and the skins are of full as much 
value as the white. The Turkish or French rab- 
bit, with long white fur, differs little from the com- 
mon varieties ; nor are their skins of more value, 
either for sale or home use. The skins are some- 
times dried for linings of light gowns and other 
domestic purposes ; but the short close fur is al- 
ways found to be the best. 

The smut is a mark of peculiar distinction in the 
rabbit. It is a spot on the nose, of which there 
are three varieties — the single, the double, and the but 
terfly omut. The darker the colour of these spots 
the more valuable is the animal deemed. According 
to the old fanciers they ought to be black, or at 
least of the darkest hue that the original exhibits on 
any part of its skin. The single smut is a patch of 
colour on one side of the nose — the double is a 



THE BABBIT. 83 

patch on each side — and the butterfly is a, double 
smut, with a mark of the same colour running a lit. 
tie distance uj3 the ridge of the nose in such a man- 
ner that the whole resembles a butterfly reversed, of 
which the two marks on the sides are the wings, and 
that on the front of the nose, body and tail. Such 
rabbits were at one time classed among the fancy 
ones, but they are now considered only a very fine 
kind of the domestic breed. 

3. Lop-eared or Fancy Rabbit. — Rabbits are fre- 
quently divided into four kinds : warrens, parkers, 
hedgehogs, and sweethearts. Burrowing under ground 
is favourable to the growth of fur in them all, and the 
warren, though inhabiting a subterraneous resi- 
dence, is less eff*eminate than his kindred who roam 
more at large. His fur is more esteemed, and after 
him comes the parker, whose favourite haunt is a gen- 
tleman's pleasure grounds, where he usually breeds 
in great numbers, and not unfrequently drives the 
hares away. The hedgehog is a sort of vagabond rab- 
bit, who travels tinker-like throughout the country, 
and who would be better clad if he remained at home. 
Sweethearts are tame rabbits, and their fur, though 
sleek, is too silky and soft to be of much use in the 
important branch of hat-making. 

There is a peculiar breed of Lincolnshire rabbits, 
styled the silver-tipped, having the tur of a dark or 
lighter grey, mixed with longer hairs tipped with 
white. Many of this description may be seen in the 
vicinity of the metropolis, where they were bred, 
without any knowledge in the breeders of their 
Lincolnshire origin. Their skins, of no extra vat'"> 



84 THK RABBIT. 

here, are said to be in demand for exportation to Rus- 
sia and China, and thence bought up in large quan- 
tities by the fur merchants for exportation. 

Formerly a fine animal of any two colours was con- 
sidered a fancy rabbit, but now the character is con- 
fined to those possessed of long lopped ears. The 
graceful fall of the ears is the first thing that is 
looked to by the fancier, next the dew-lap, if the ani- 
mal is in its prime, then the colours and marked 
points, and lastly, the shape and general appearance. 
The ears of a fine rabbit should extend not less than 
seven inches, measured from tip to tip, in a line 
across the skull, but even though they should exceed 
this length, they are admitted with reluctance into a 
first-rate fancy stock, unless they have a uniform 
and graceful droop. The dewlap is only seen in 
fancy rabbits after they have attained their full 
growth; it commences immediately under the jaw, 
and adds much to the beauty of their appearance. It 
goes down the throat, and between the forelegs, and 
is so broad, that it projects beyond the chin, when 
the head reposes on it. A very fine efiect is pro- 
duced by it, when the fur with which it is clothed is 
of a beautiful colour. The difference between the 
fancy and the common rabbit in the back and gener- 
al appearance, independently of the ears, is sufficient 
to strike the most common observer. 

Fancy rabbits cost a very high price, so much as 
five, ten, and even twenty guineas having been given 
for a first-rate doe. If young ones are first procured 
of a good lineage, the foundation of an excellent 
stock can be laid for a much smaller sum, and by 



THE RABBIT. 85 

judicious pairing and crossing, some splendid varie- 
ties may at times be produced. Very excellent spe- 
cimens have occasionally been thrown off by those 
who have good blood in their veins, although they 
themselves should not be perfect, but even exhibit 
some inferior points. The original pairs should, in 
this case, be got rid of as soon as possible, and the 
best models for future breeding retained. By this 
means, he who begins with a cheap, and even an in- 
ferior stock, may soon come to enter into success- 
ful competition with one who commenced with the 
purest and highest priced kinds. 

Sometimes the ears, instead of drooping down, slope 
bi-ck \vardy. A rubbit with ihis characteristic is 
scarcely admitted into the fancy catalogue, and is not 
considered worth much more than the common va- 
riety. The next and most general position of the 
ears, is when one lops outward, and the other stands 
erect. Rabbits of this kind possess little value, how- 
ever fine in shape, and beautiful in colour, although 
they sometimes throw off as good specimens as those 
which are quite perfect. Though only one-half lop- 
up. eared, they are in general fully bred, and as a con- 
sequence, their progeny is often superior to them- 
selves. 

T\\e foreward or horn lop is one degree nearer per- 
fi-'ction than the half lop. The ears in this case 
slope forward and down over the forehead. Rabbits 
with this peculiarity are sometimes perfect in all 
other respects, with the exception of the droop in the 
ears, and often become the progenitors of an illus- 
trious posterity, purified from all their imperfections, 



96 THE RABBIT. 

and possessed ofcill their excellencies. Does of this 
kind frequently have the power of lifting one ear 
upright. 

In the ear top, the ears spread out in a horizontal 
position, like the wings of a bird in flight, or the 
arms of a man in swimming. A great many excellent 
does have this characteristic, and some of the best 
bred bucks in the fancy are entirely so. Sometimes 
a rabbit drops one ear completely, but raises the 
other so nearly horizontally as to constitute it an 
ear top : this is superior to all others except the per- 
fect fall, which is so rarely to be met with, that 
those which are merely ear topped are considered 
very valuable animals, if well bred, and with other 
good qualities. 

The real top has ears that hang down by the side 
of the cheek, slanting somewhat outward in their des- 
cent with the auricular parts inward, and sometimes 
either backward or forward instead of perpendicular. 
When the animal stands in an easy position, the 
tips of the ears touch the ground. The hollows of 
the ears in a fancy rabbit of the first rate kind, 
should be turned so completely backward, that only 
the outer or convex part of them may appear in front. 
They should match exactly in their descent, and 
should slant outward as little as possible. Perfect- 
ly handsome lops are considered so rare, that a 
breeder with a stock of twenty does of the most capi- 
tal kind, with superior blood and beauty, may think 
himself fortunate if he can get a dozen full lopped 
ears, in the course of a year, out of them all, 

4. Colour of Rabbits. — As the common ^rabbit is 



THE RABBIT. 87 

reared principally for the table, weight and size are 
with it more important requisites than colour, both 
for culinary and other economical purposes, as well 
as taste. Sometimes indeed a stock of rabbits has 
been kept almost entirely for their skins. 

The old writers perhaps rather overvalued the pro- 
fits of this stock. Rabbit. keeping is practised by a 
few individuals in almost every town, and by a few 
in almost every part of the country ; but thirty or 
forty years ago, there were one or two very consider- 
able feeders near the metropolis, keeping each, ac- 
cording to report, from fifteen hundred to two thous- 
and breeding does. These large concerns have ceas- 
ed, it seems, long since, and London receives the sup- 
ply of tame, as well as wild rabbits, chiefly from the 
country. 

The most considerable rabbit. feeders in England 
some years ago, were two gentlemen, the one resi- 
dent in Oxfordshire, the other in Berks. The for- 
mer fed some hundreds, and then, it was said, intended 
to double his stock. The huts were placed in a 
small building set apart for that purpose. The then 
stock produced one load of dung per week, two loads 
of which were sufficient to manure an acre of land. 
Three dozen of rabbits per week were sent to the 
London market, but keep and attendance reckoned, no 
other profit accrued, excepting the dung, the price 
of which used to be eight-pence per bushel, and I be- 
lieve thirty. six bushels are reckoned a load. The 
Berks gentleman, according to the survey of that 
county, fed white rabbits, on account of the superior 
value of their skins, from their application of late 



88 TIIK RABBIT. 

years to the purpose of trimmings. Twenty does and 
two bucks will form a large stock. 

Tortoise shell (a rich brown and white, and brown 
grey and white) as also jet black, and pure white, 
are reckoned the best colours by fanciers. Mouse 
colour is much admired by a chosen few. Fawn, 
and fawn and white, and grev, have also their ad- 
mirers. The cook, however, has peculiar delight in 
the grey and the black ; they are of a hardy consti- 
tution, form good breeders, and are capital eating. 

Fanciers attach much importance to the manner 
in which the colours are mixed. The greater part of 
the back, the haunches, and the body, should be of 
the dark hue, or sliprlidy spot!' -i with the lighter 
hue. A chain, or series of the darker colour, should 
come up to the shoulders, and the rest of the fore 
part of the body should also be variegated — ^white, 
however, predominating. If the ears are of not pre- 
cisely the prevailing colour of the body, they are 
called pie-bald, which is considered a great defect. 
A great deal of colour, not unmingled with white, 
should surround the eyes, and cover the nose. The 
throat and dewlap may be either white, dark, or va- 
riegated, and the belly altogether white. There 
should be as few white hairs as possible on any of the 
spots or dark parts, especially those of the back, 
for they make the animal appr;ar grizzled and d(;- 
ficient in beauty. The spots should be distinctly de- 
fined on the white ground. When the colour on the 
back gradually melts away into the white by an in- 
termixture of white hairs, instead of being gradually 
and clearly broken by distinct edges and termina- 



THB RABBIT. 89 

tin2 with the chain on the shoulders, the animal is al- 
ways considered deteriorated. The rabbits, however, 
that are perfectly coloured, are extremely few, and 
they only approach perfection the more closely they 
coincide with the description we have thus given. 

All the rabbits in the fancy stock that do not ap- 
pear improving upon the colour of their progenitors, 
should be consigned to the cook. They should be 
condemned to feast the palate, when they are not 
fit to please the eye, and it is always better to have 
a select than merely a numerous assortment. When 
rabbits from first-rate docs exhibit this deterioration 
of colour, they are called blood-suckers, because they 
impoverish the stock, by taking the food and milk 
which might nourish a more esteemed brood. The 
thoroucjh rabbit. fancier never thinks of rearins: mere- 
ly for the table. It is his object and his interest to 
sell them to those of a taste similar to his own, but 
if he keeps a number of does he is under the necessi- 
ty of weeding his stock by devoting them to his own 
use, or taking the regular market price for them 
from the poulterer, as out of every score which he 
.may think it proper, on account of their colours, to 
rear to the age of two months, three-fourths of them 
will be found of no value from defect in their ears. 
He is too knowing, however, to send them out of his 
hands alive, as this would give others an opportunity 
of raising a comparatively valuable stock, though of 
an inferior grade, which would tend to lower prices 
in the fancy market. There is a story told of a pi- 
geon. fancier who was offered a guinea for a pair for 
which he had asked five times the amount, having 
7 



90 THE RABBIT. 

wrung off their heads to provide for his supper ,• and 
it is also said that a poulterer had concluded a bar- 
gain with a person who kept good rabbits, for a lot of 
young ones, at ha!f-a-crown a pair, and when* he 
proposed taking them home alive, he was told, that 
in that case they must cost a guinea. The reason 
is obvious. Although the present generation might 
appear imperfect, and not worth the keeping to the 
eye of the fancier, some of their posterity might turn 
out well, and the excellences of the original stock 
might thus be transferred to the possession of a stran- 
ger who had not paid any thing like an adequate 
price. 

Fine coloured rabbits should never be sacrificed on 
account of any defect in their ears, as they are some- 
times known to throw off beautiful loppers, and to be- 
come the founders of an excellent family ; whereas, 
those with drooping ears, but of mean colour, and of 
puny form, frequently give rise to a paltry erect-ear- 
ed race. It is a mistake to keep them on account of 
their ears alone, fine points and beautiful colour be- 
ing of far greater importance. It is equally foolish, 
and withal a cruel practice, to cause the e'ar to droo^ 
by artificial means. Unless it be to serve somt 
purpose of jockey-ship, it is labour in vain, and sel- 
dom followed even with the appearance of temporary 
success. It is better to attend principally to the 
colour and general constitution, leaving lopped-eared 
progeny to the chapter of accidents, as more or less 
of them will be turned out in the ordinary and regu- 
lar increase of the stock. 

5. The Rabbit Hutch. — The great requisite in a 



THE BABBIT. 91 

rabbitry, whether large or small, is dryness and fresh 
air; the want of either of which is equally destruc- 
tive to the inmates. In securing free ventilation, 
every precaution should be used to prevent strong 
and irregular currents of air, which pras injurious to 
the health as a confined find humid as atmosphe, and 
is apt to bring on a disease called the snuffles, a dan- 
gerous and fatal disorder. The young fancier should 
attend more to the situation in which his hutches 
are placed, than to the materials of which they are 
composed. He should, if possible, choose the summit 
of a sloping bank on a dry and sandy soil. The 
floor of the hutch should be an inclined plane, with 
a small opening at the bottom to carry offany super- 
fluous moisture. It should always bs divided into 
two compartments, the outer one railed in, and only 
half covered with a hinged rail on the uncovered 
part, which can be opened at pleasure for the pur- 
pose of inspection or teeding. The inner apartment 
should have the whole of the lowe inwall on hinges, 
that it may be thoroughly and regularly cleaned. 
In the corner of a small park, or green, or garden, 
such a hutch can easily be constructed", by any active 
youth, with a few old boards, at almost no expense. 
We do not approve of old tea-chests or egg boxes, 
unless for the purpose of temporary confinement or 
separation, and a few of these may always be at hand 
for managing the progress of the breeding stock. It 
is preferable to rest the hutches upon stands, about 
a foot above the ground, for the convenience of 
cleaning under them. Each of the hutches, intended 
for breeding, should have two rooms, 'a feeding and 



92 THE RABBtf. 

a bed room. Those are single for the use of the 
WEANKD RABBITS, or for the BUCKS, which are always, 
except at the proper season, kept separate. 

When much green meat is given, rabbits make 
a considerable quantity of urine, and I have some- 
times seen occasion to set the hutches sloping back- 
wards a few degrees, a very small aperture being 
made the whole length of the floor, to carry off the 
urine. A sliding door in the partition between the 
two rooms is convenient for confining the rabbits 
during the operation of cleaning ; which, indeed, is 
a good argument for having all the hutches double, 
it beins more troublesome to clean out a room with 
a number of rabbits in it, than with only one. It 
must not be forgotten, that the teeth of rabbits are 
very effectual implements of destruction to any thing 
not hard enough to resist them, and their troughs 
should be bound with something less penetrable than 
wood. As they are apt to scratch out their food 
and dung into it, I have often thought it might be 
useful to adopt the feeding troughs with moveable 
boards, as well for rabbits as for pigs. 

The floor of the hutches should be planed smooth, 
that wet may run off*, and a common hoe with a short 
handle, and a short broom, are most convenient im- 
plements for cleaning these houses. The hutches 
should be littered with refuse hay or straw, perfect- 
ly dry. The rabbit-house should contain a tub for 
the dang, and a bin for a day's supply of hay, corn, 
roots, or other food, which should be given in as 
fresh a state as possible. 

There are Dther modes of confining j:abbits for 



THE BABBIT. 93 

breeding, in which they are left to their liberty, with- 
in certain bounds : for example, an artificial mound 
walled in, in which they burrow and live as in the 
natural state, and an island, as described in Mr. 
Young's Annals, — methods which are certainly or- 
namental and pleasurable, and more perhaps for tho 
comfort of the animals ; but not so profitable to tho 
owner as hutching, in whicli mode also they may be 
preserved, with due care, in the highest state of health. 
" On this head," says Mowbray, " I find the following 
remark in my memoranda for the year 1805 : Rabbits 
at large must alicnys snjfer more in point of profit, by 
loss of number, than they gain, by cheaper feeding, ex- 
clusive of the mischief they do : and this principlo 
operates proportionall3'^ in limited enlargement, as 
in the unlimited upon the warren. They arc quarrel- 
some and mischievous animals, and the bucks when 
at liberty destroy a considerable port of the young. 
A run abroad indeed for young rabbits, until a cer- 
tain age, might be beneficial ii growth were the sub- 
ject ; but all rabbits must be separated at the age of 
puberty, or as soon as they become fit for breeding ; 
they will else tear each other to pieces." 

With all due deference we must beg leave to dif- 
fer from this respectable authority, as we have found 
from experience thtit the more the common rabbit, 
and even some approaching to a fine fancy breed, are 
allowed to run and gambol in the open air, the har- 
dier, healthier, and more prolific they become, re- 
quiring less attention, and in every respect aflTord- 
ing more pleasure and profit to the keeper. When 
there is convenience for it, a small enclosed unpavecl 



94 THE BABBIT. 

Court on a sandy substratum, dry and firm, of about 
twelve or twenty feet square, or oblong of such di. 

mension^, io one of the best little domestic warrens 
that can be formed, giving the animals all the advan- 
tages of a state of nature and a State of domestica- 
tion at the same time. Here they will frisk and 
burrow, bringing forth their young safe from the 
ravages of the buck and every enemy, and the litter 

6 seldom seen till, — when the young are about a 
month old, — they emerge from their subterraneous 
bed, and run about like little living snowballs. 
"When thus brought up they are apt to become a little 
wild, but hunger is the great tamer of all animated 
being, and the necessity they are under of returning 
to the hutch^for food, soon accustoms Ihem to the 
presence, and subjects them to the hand of man. It 
is objected to this mode of training, that the burrow- 
ing of the rabbits is apt to undermine, and one wor- 
thy guardian of ours, when we first adopted the pro- 
cess, felt serious alarm lest the whole house should 
tumble down about his ears. But this is altogether 
a mistake, as the burrow of the rabbit forms a strong 
arch, and any thing placed upon it stands as secure- 
ly as on the solid ground. On the banks of the Firth 
of Forth we once enjoyed a situation of this kind, 
and neither before nor since haVe we ever enjoyed 
so much satisfaction in the rearing of rabbits. They 
defied all the attacks of cat, or dog, and weasel, even 
when the gate at the bottom of their hutch was left 
open for days and nights ; and it would eventually 
have required a keen ferret to have scented them 
not of their many lurking places. 



THE RABBIT. 95 

For fancy rabbits, however, distinct hutches are 
necessary. They should be boxes placed against the 
wall, and raised trom the ground, with wire fronts. 
They should have drawers in the front for food, and 
moveable bottoms for cleaning, something on the 
same principle as a bird cage. The hutch of the doe 
should be divided by a partition, with a small sliding 
door in it. She should never ba allowed to feed in 
the inner or breeding division, and both should be 
kept thoroughly dry and clean. It is unnecessary 
to have any partition in the buck's hutches. They 
should be of a semicircular form, with the chord at 
the front, from which the sides and back should be 
gradually rounded off. The wires are placed wide 
apart, and are stronger and thicker than those used 
for does' hutches. The drawer is placed in the cen- 
tre, as there is only one to feed, instead of running 
the whole length of the front. The buck's hutch 
should not be less than twenty inches high, thirty 
broad, and twenty at its deepest part. 

The hutches may be placed one above the other, or 
placed in a row as circumstances may permit, or 
choice direct. If possible they should never stand 
on the ground, but on stools or horses about a foot 
or two high. The backs are better a little removed 
from the wall, and sufficient room should be left for 
the dung to have a passage through the openings 
made in the lower part of the floor. 

6. Feeding* — Too much attention cannot be paid 
to this part of the subject, as it is upon his skill and 
attention in feeding, the greater part of the success 
and satisfaction of the young fancier will depend. 



96 THE RABBIT. 

" Abundant food,^^ says Cobbet, " is the main thing ; 
and what is there that a rabbit will not eat 1 I know 
of nothing green that they will not eat ; and if hard 
pushed, they will eat bark, and even wood. The 
best thing to feed the young ones on when taken from 
the mother, is the carroty wild or garden. Parsnips, 
Swedish turnips, roots of dandelion ; for too much 
green or watery stuff is not good for meaning rabbits. 
They should remain as long as possible with the 
mother. They should have oats once a-day ; and, 
after a time, they may eat anything with safety. 
But if you give them too much green at first when 
they are weaned, they rot as sheep do. A variety of 
food is a great thing; and, surely, the fields and gar- 
dens and hedges furnish this variety ! All sorts of 
grasses, strawberry. leaves, ivy, dandelions, the hog- 
weed or 7vild parsiiip, in root, stem, and leaves. I 
have fed working horses, six or eight in number, up- 
on this plant for weeks together. It is a tall bold 
plant that grows in prodigious qutintilies in the 
hedges and coppices in some parts of England. - It 
is the j)erennial parsnip. It has flower and seed 
precisely like those of the parsnip ; and hogs, cows, 
and horses, are equally fond of it. Many a half- 
etarved pig have [ seen within a few yards of cart- 
loads of this pig meat ! This arises from want of 
the early habit of attention to such matters. I, 
who used to get hog-weed for pigs and for rabbits 
when a little chap, have never forgotten that the 
wikl parsnip is good for pigs and rabbits. 

When the doe has young ones, feed her most abun- 
dantly with all sorts of greens and herbage, and 



THE RABBIT. 97 

with carrots and the other things mentioned before, 
besides giving her a few oats once a day. The 
young ones> if they come from the mother in good 
case, will very seldom die. But do not think, that 
because she* is a small animal, a little feeding is 
sufficient ! Rabbits eat a great deal more than cows 
or sheep, in proportion to their bulk. 

Of all animals rabbits are those that hoys are 
most fond of. They are extremely pretty, nimble in 
their movements, engaging in their attitudes, and 
always completely under immediate control. The 
produce has not long to be waited for. In short, 
they ke("p an interest constantly alive in a little 
chap's mind; and they really cost nothings for as to 
the oats, where is the boy that cannot, in harvest- 
time, pick up enough along the lanes to serve his 
rabbits for a year. The care is all ; and the habit 
of taking care of things is, of itself, a most valuable 
possession. 

To those gentlemen who keep rabbits for the use 
of their family (and a very useful and convenient arti- 
cle they are), I would observe, that when they find 
their rabbets die, they may depend on it, that ninety- 
nine times out of a hundred starvation is the malady. 
And particularly short feeding of the doe, while, 
and before she has young ones ; that is to say, short 
feeding of her at all times \ for if she be poor, the 
young ones will be good ibr nothing. She will live 
being poor, but she will not and cannot breed up 
fine young ones." 

Too much food at a time is as bad as too little. It 
should be given often and in small (quantities, fresh 



98 THE RABBIT. 

and clean, that it may not litter and become putrid, 
producing in the rabbit disgust and disease. Three 
times a day is sufficiently frequent for all ordinary 
purposes. In the morning to a full grown doe, with 
no young to suckle, there should be given a little hay 
dry, clean and green vegetables; at noon, two hand- 
fuls of good corn should -be put into her trough ; and 
at night, a boiled potato or two, with a little more 
hay or clover, but only if her hutch be quite clear of 
what she got in the morning. The hay is trodden 
dpwn and wasted if more is given to them than they 
are able to consume in a few hours, unless it be to 
a doe just about to litter. It is eaten and relished 
when but a moderate quantity is given to them at a 
time. Green or moist food is generally preferred to 
corn, but to keep them in health it is necessary to 
furnish them with a regular supply of solid food. 
A few split or grey peas may occasionally be given 
them instead of corn. The peas may be soaked 
a little before being put into the trough when intend- 
ed for a doe, with a litter by her side, or for young 
ones recently weaned. If a doe will not eat corn, a 
few tea leaves may be mixed in her mess, and she 
should be proportionably stinted in green food. To 
gather for the table, or to bring a lean one into 
good condition, barley meal, either dry or scalded, is 
an excellent diet. Tea leaves may occasionally be 
given them as a luxury, but never as their staple fare. 
A doe will eat nearly double the quantity when 
suckling that she will do at any other time, and 
when her litter begin to eat, the allowance of food 
should be gradually augmented. Sometimes when 



THE RABBIT. 99 

afflicted with thirst, an extra portion of green food 
may be allowed, or some moistened grain, or even a 
spoonful of water, milk, or beer, but it is dangerous 
to expose them to moisture, either internally or ex- 
ternally. 

7. Breeding. — The doe will breed, at the age of 
six months, and her period of gestation is thirty or 
thirty-one days. It should be premised, that the buck 
and doe are by no means to be left long together ; but 
their union having been successful, the buck must be 
inmediately withdrawn^ and the doe tried again three ' 
days. Like chickens,. the best breeding rabbits are 
those kindled in March. Some days before parturi- 
tion, or kindling, hay is to be given to .the doe, to 
assist in making her bed, with the flue which nature 
has instructed her to tear from her body for that pur- 
pose. She will be at this period seen sitting upon 
her haunches, and tearing off the flue, and the hay 
being presented to her she will with her teeth re- 
duce and shorten it to her purpose. Biting down 
of the litter or bed, is the first sign of approachin» 
delivery. The number produced is generally be- 
tween five and ten ; and it is most advantageous 
always to destroy the weak and sickly ones, as soon 
as their defects can be perceived, because five 
healthy and well-grown rabbits aTe worth more* 
than double the number of an opposite description, 
and the doe will be far less exhausted. She will 
admit the buck again with profit at the end of six 
weeks, when the young may be separated from her 
and weaned. Or the young may be suckled two 
months, the doe taking the buck at the end of five 



100 THE RABBIT. 

weeks, so that the former litter will leave her about 
a week before her next parturition. A notion was 
formerly prevalent, of the necessity for giving the 
buck to the doe immediately after she had brought 
forth, lest she should pine, and that no time might be 
lost, but this is an unwise and unnatural practice, 
leading to the injury of health, and often to the loss 
of life. Great care should be taken that the doe 
during the period of her gestation be not approached 
by the buck, or indeed by any other rabbit ; as, from 
being harrassed about, she wi41 «.lmost certainly cast 
her young. One doe in a thousand may devour her 
young ; the sign that she ought to be otherwise dis- 
posed of. .Some does admit the buck with difficulty, 
although often apparently in season ; such should be 
immediately fattened off, since it never can be worth 
while to keep an objectionable individual for breed- 
ing, of a stock to be produced in such multitudes. 
Should the doe be weak on her bringing forth, from 
cold caught, or other cause, she will drink beer-cau- 
•dle, as well as any other lady ; or warm fresh grains 
will comfort her ; a malt mash, scalded fine pollard, 
or barley-meal, in which may be mixed a small 
quantity of cordial horse-ball. 

Mr. Brown, of Banbury, who has published some 
observations on the subject, believes that what ap- 
pears to be a propensity in the devouring her young, 
is nothing more than a necessitous, though truly un- 
natural act. 

Mr. B. observes, " I have had rabbits which have 
been sold me cheap, in consequence of this seeming 
proneness to eat their young, >vhich I have entirely 



THE RABBIT. 101 

avoided by allowing the animal some short time 
anterior, at the time, and tor a week or so after par- 
turition, to drink freely of cold water ; and when I 
had taken this precaution, no such propensity ever 
evinced itself in the least; and that cold water is in 
no way injurious and the animal appears wonder- 
fully gratified by it. 

"The preceding remarks go to prove, that the 
propensity is in fact one which has necessity for its 
origin ; and that of the most imperious nature. 
Hence it is recommended to all who may have 
sufiered from this cause to supply the parturient 
animals with as much cold liquid* as they require 
or can drink." 

However plausible this theory of Mr. Brown may 
be, and however occasionally useful, it must not be 
received as generally correct. We must look deeper 
tlian thirst, and the mere want of drink for the real 
exciting cause of this apparently unnatural, perhaps 
inscrutable act in females of various genera of 
animals, since it is well-known to take place when 
there is no such want, particularly in the rabbit, the 
least liable to thirst, the sow, the cat, the ferret, and 
others. The cow also devours her after-burden, in a 
field of grass, and in reach of the pond at which she 
is daily accustomed to drink. There are, moreover 
formidable objections to this hypothesis of Mr. 
Brown ; no light one in the solidity of the substanc, 
chosen to allay thirst, better calculated, one would 
suppose, to appease hunger ; and another weighty 
one in the tact, that some, or most females, never 
devour their young, under whatever circumstances 



102 THE RABBIT. 

of privation. The doe will sometimes commit the 
act from resentment at having her bed and young 
disturbed and pried into, and will frequently tear 
her bed in pieces, and scatter the fragments about 
her hut. . . 

Professor Coleman, in a ypry fanciful theory, attri-* 
butes this unnatural practice in the doe to a con- 
sciousness of a deficiency in milk ; but we consider 
that the above observations give a more rational and 
probable account of the matter. 

Every litter should be reduced to five or six, by 
destroying the weak and sickly ones. Should the 
doe be weak after kindling, she should get a malt 
mash, scalded pollard or barley meal, in which may 
be mixed a small quantity of cordial horse-ball. In 
this or any other case in which a dee is weak, a little 
bread soaked in milk, and pressed dry again, may be 
^iven with great advantage. It is advisable to 
manage so as to make two or three does kindle at 
the same time, so that some of the young of the doe 
that has too many, may be transferred to the one 
that has too few, but never consigning more than six 
to each. In selecting for a breeding stock, the mem- 
bers of a small family should always be fixed as most 
likely to produce a vigorous and beautiful p rogeny. 

8. Diseases. — Diseases may, in a great measure, 
be prevented by regularity in feeding, good food, and 
cleanliness. The refuse of vegetables should always 
be carefully rejected and removed. For the liver 
complaint there is no remedy, and when rabbits are 
affected with it, to which they are very liable, the 
only resource is to fatten them for the table. The 



THE HABBIT. 103 

snuffles are brought on by damp and cold, and can 
only be cured, when cure is possible, by the opposite 
of that which caused it. They are sometimes in- 
fected with an ulcerous scab, which appears to be 
contagious, and the only course to be pursued is the 
separation of the sound from the tainted, as for tlje 
latter there is little or no hope. 

Tea leaves are the most medicinal food that can 
be given when their health appears at allaQected 
from any cause, but of all animals with which we 
are acquainted, the rabbit is the least able to resist 
the attack of disease, and seems the most to defy all 
medical and surgical skill. The grand object of 
attention should therefore be, to preserve them in 
health, which is seldom, if ever, a task of much 
difficulty. • , 

9. General Observations. — With due attention to 
keeping them warm and comfortable, and guarding 
against any sudden impression from cold, and more 
particularly moist air, and with the aid of the best 
and most nourishing food, rabbits may be bred 
throughout the winter, with nearly equal success as 
in the summer season. i3ut, in truth, their pro.duce 
is so multitudinous, that one might be w^ell satisfied 
with four or five litters, during the best part of the 
year, giving the doe a winter fallow. Even four 
litters would, upon the lowest calculation, produce 
twenty young ones annually to each doe ; equal to 
an annual two thousand from a stock of one hundred 
does. Breeders have no experience of does beyond 
the fifth year, but the buck comes into use at six, or 
even four months old, and is in perfection from the 
age of two to three years. 



104 THE RABBIT. 

Rabbits are generally sold from the teat, but there 
is also a demand for those of larger size, which may 
be fattened upon corn and hay with an allowance 
of the best vegetables. The better the food, the great- 
er weight, better quality, and more profit, as is indeed 
the case in the breeding of all animals. Some fatten 
with fresh grains and pollard. Wheat, and all kinds 
of oats, have been tried comparatively, but little 
diflerpnce in the goodness of flesh has been found. 
The Rabbit's flesh being dry, the allowance of sue- 
culent greens may tend to render it more juicy. 
Rabbits are in perfection for feeding at the fourth or 
sixth month ; beyond which period, their flesh be- 
comes more dry and somewhat hard. It requires 
three months, or nearly so, to make a rabbit thorough- 
ly fat and ripe ; half the time may make them eata- 
ble, but by no means equal in the quality of the flesh. 
They may yet be over-fattened as appears by speci- 
mens exhibited a few years since, at Lord Somer- 
ville's show, a pair of which were loaded with fiit 
without and within, like the highest fed sheep ; and 
at the late London cattle show, two were exhibited, 
one of them exceeding the weight of 15 lbs. 

I'he flesh of the rabbit is esteemed equally digesti- 
ble with that of fowls, and equally proper for the 
table of the invalid. This seems to be the general 
sentiment, especially with regard to the sucking 
rabbit boiled. There is, nevertheless, some discrepan- 
cy of judgment between our sages of the table, as to 
the preference due to the wild or tame rabbit. In 
our opinion, the flesh of the wild rabbit is most 
savoury and substantial, that of the tame and home- 



THE KAB3IT. 105 

fed, most delicate and chicken. like. We frequently 
observe a deep yellow suffusion, tinging the whole 
flesh and fat of the rabbit, and the same also in the 
turkey and in beef. It is difficult to conjecture or 
obtain any satisfactory reason for this phenomenon. 
Is the cause biliary ? Of the two rabbits at the late 
show, one was white as silver, and the other a deep 
yellow, yet apparently both equally healthy. 

Castrated rabbits might be fattened, no doubt, to 
the weight of upwards of ten or even fifteen pounds, 
at six or seven months old. The operation should 
be performed at the age of six or seven weeks. I 
have not succeeded at castrating the rabbit, but am 
informed it is successfully practised in that region 
of corn and capons, namely, Chichester in Sussex, 
where, on the average, not one in three hundred is 
lost by the operation, which is performed at five or 
six weeks old. With respect to quantities of corn 
consumed in fattening, Mowbray says, "August 1813, 
killed a young buck, which weighed three pounds, 
fit for the spit ; it was put up in good case, and was 
only one month in feeding, consuming not quite 
four quarts of oats, with hay, cabbage, lucerne, hunias 
orientalis, and chicory ; the skin, silver and black, 
worth four-pence." 

In slaughtering full-grown rabbits, after the usual 
stroke upon the neck, the throat should be perforated 
upwards towards the jaws with a small pointed 
knife, in order that the blood may be evacuated, 
which would otherwise settle in the head and neck. 
It is an abomination to kill poultry by the slow and 
torturing method of bleeding to death, hung up by 
8 



106 THE RABBIT. 

the heels, the veins of the mouth being cut ; but 
still more so the rabbit, which in that situation 
utters horrible screams. The entrails of the rabbits, 
whilst fresh, are said to be good food for fish, being 
thrown into ponds. 

The rabbit is a caressing animal, and equally fond 
with the cat, of the head being stroked ; at the same 
time it is not destitute of courage. A whimsical 
lady admitted a buck rabbit, named Corney Butter- 
cup, into the house, where he became her companion 
for upwards of a twelvemonth. He soon intimidated 
the largest cats so much, by chasing them round the 
room, and darting upon them, and tearing off their 
hair by mouthfuls, that they very seldom dared to ap- 
proach. He slept in the lap by choice, or upon a 
chair, or the hearth-rug, and was as full of mischief 
and tricks as a monkey. He destroyed all rush- 
bottomed chairs within his reach, and would refuse 
nothing to eat or drink, which was eaten or drank 
by any other member of the family. 

No live stock is less liable to disease than the 
rabbit, with regular and careful attention, such as 
has been pointed out, so that any sudden and acci- 
dental disorder is best and most cheaply remedied 
by a stroke behind the ears. But want of care must 
be remedied, if at all, by an opposite conduct, and 
improper food exchanged for its contrary. Thus if 
rabbits become pot-bellied in the common phrase, 
from being fed on loose vegetable trash, they must 
be cured by good hard hay and corn, ground malt or 
pease, toasted bread or captain's biscuits, or any 



THE RABBIT^ 107 

substantial and absorbent food. Their common 
liver complaints are incurable, and when such are 
put up to fatten, there is a certain criterion to be 
observed. They will not bear to be pushed beyond 
a moderate degree of fatness, and should be taken in 
time, as they are liable to drop off suddenly. The 
dropsy and rot must be prevented, as they are 
generally incurable ; nor is a rabbit worth the time 
and pains of a probable cure. Of the * madness in 
tame conies,' on which our old writers hold forth, I 
know nothing. 

Large rabbit concerns have now generally ceased ; 
of late one has arisen at Ampthill, Bedfordshire, 
upon a more extensive scale than ever before attempt, 
ed, established by J. H. Fisher, Esq. an agent of his 
Grace the Duke of Bedford. Upon so extensive a 
plan, indeed, is this new undertaking, that it may 
well be styled a grand National Rabbit Bazaar. 
The building situated upon an eminence is square, 
somewhat resembling barracks, with a court within- 
side the walls, and with thirty acres of fine light 
land adjoining, under culture of those crops known 
to be best adapted to the nourishment and support of 
four and five thousand breeding does, which number 
is probably now complete. The young rabbits, from 
seven to nine weeks old, are sent to Newgate and 
Leadenhall markets, fifty to sixty dozen weekly. 
The quantity of dung produced, which is preserved 
with the utmost care, and free from any extraneous 
substances, must be very considerable and valuable. 
A number of men and boys are employed in the con- 



108 THE BABBIT. 

cern, under the direction of an experienced foremany 
and the utmost regularity of attention observed with 
respect to management, feeding, and cleanliness. 

The above particulars are memorable, although 
this great undertaking came to an end in 1833, like 
so many former ones of a similar nature, but on a 
far inferior scale. Mr. Fisher probably found, though 
somewhat too late, that his other great concerns 
were fully sufficient to engage the whole of his at- 
tention. Experienced persons say, that the expenses 
necessarily attendant on such a concern were too 
heavy to admit of an adequate return of profit, one 
material item of which consisted in the too great 
distance of Ampthill from the metropolis. Never- 
theless, it appears that three gentlemen were about 
to continue this undertaking on a smaller scale, at 
or near Shepherd's Bush, 



THE CANARY BIRD. 



1. Origin. — The canary bird belongs to the tribe 
Fringilla or Finch, and is chiefly found in a wild 
state among those islands of the Atlantic whence it 
derives its name. Its prevailing colour is yellow, 
though there is a second extensive variety with 
brown body and yellow eye-brows. Other varieties, 
or rather sub-varieties, have been described to the 
number of thirty, arising, doubtless, from domestica- 
tion, and admixture with other Finches. It is about 
the size of a goldfinch. According to a late orni- 
thologist, the second variety inhabits Africa, and it 
is said St. Helena, where it sings much better than 
the common canary in cages in this country. It is 
also found at Palma, Fayal, Cape Verd and Madeira, 
as well as at the Canaries. It is not known at what 
precise period it was introduced into Europe, but 
in all probability it could not be earlier than the 
fourteenth century. It is not mentibned by Below 
in the sixteenth century, and at the time of Gesner 
and Aldrovandus, who wrote his book upon birds at 
the beginning of the seventeenth century, it was 
considered a great rarity, and it was only to be met 
with in the mansions of the great. 



110 THE CANARY. 

The demand for them is now extensive ; they are 
bred and reared with facility under almost any cir- 
cumstances, and the beauty of their plumage, with the 
melody of their song and the docility of their habits, 
have rendered them universal favourites. It is now 
thoroughly domesticated, and under cover almost 
completely naturalized throughout the whole of 
Europe. In South Western Germany and the Tyrol, 
their propagation has been converted into a trade, 
and is carried on by means of both extensive and ex- 
pensive apparatus. A large building is erected for 
them, with a square space at each end, and holes 
communicating with these spaces. In these outlets 
are planted such trees as the birds prefer ; the bottom 
is strewed with sand and gravel, on which are 
thrown hemp-seed, rape-seed, chickweed, groundsel, 
&;c. and such other food as the birds like. Through- 
out the inner compartment, which is kept dark, are 
placed brooms and young fir-trees, for the birds to 
build in, — care being taken that the breeding birds 
are guarded from the intrusion of the rest. Four 
Tyrolese usually take over to England about sixteen 
hundred of these birds ; although they carry them on 
their backs nearly a thousand miles, and pay j£20 
for them originally, they can sell them at 5s. each. 

Some suppose that the note of the tame canary 
bird is compounded of that of the tit-lark and the 
nightingale. "But," observes Mr. Jennings, in his 
O?mithologia, *' although this may be occasionally true, 
it is not, I suspect, a general truth. There is surely 
a probability that the canary has a song of its own." 
Of the eggs and incubation of this bird in its natural 



THE CANARY. Ill 

state, it is equally difficult to obtain any account. 
" In its domestic state," says Mr. Jennings, " it 
doubtless partakes of the nature of those birds with 
which it might happen to be associated." Mr. 
Yarrel, however, communicated to Mr. Jennings* 
work the following particulars of the domesticated 
canary bird, of which he (Mr. Yarrel) has several 
eggs, produced by the genuine species, without any 
admixture. 

" Whatever the materials are of which the canary 
forms its nest, or what the colour of its eggs in its 
native islands, I do not know ; but in this country, 
(having bred them myself,) they make a compact 
nest of moss and wool, closely intervoven, very 
similar to the nest of the linnet and the red-pole ; 
the egg is also very like that of the linnet, but some- 
what smaller ; the ground colour white, slightly 
tinged with green, spotted and streaked, with dark 
red at the larger end ; in number, four or five. 

" However domestication may change the feather, 
I have no reason to believe that it produces any al- 
teration in the colour of the egg, and in this in- 
stance both the nest and eggs agree closely with the 
other species of the genus to which the canary be- 
longs." It is prolific with most other finches, and 
even with some which are usually considered as 
belonging to a different genus, such as the yellow 
hammer, Emheriza citrineUa. The canary has been 
known to breed in confinement in this country six 
or eight times a year, and its age extends to fourteen 
or fifteen years. 

2. Varieties. — Under the two great divisions al- 



112 THE CANARY. 

ready mentioned, the following long list of sub- vari- 
eties has been enumerated, which could be easily 
extended, but to which it is of great importance 
that the amateur should attend, as it will enable him 
to judge more accurately of the value to be attached, 
and the names to be ascribed, to the productions of 
his breeding cage. — There are, 

1. The common canary finch, of a grey colour, 
with the down black ; as in the wild bird found in 
the Canary Isles. 

2. Grey canary finch, with the down and feet 
white. 

3. Grey canary finch, with white tail. 

4. Common flaxen canary finch. 

5. Flaxen canary finch, with red eyes. 

6. Flaxen canary finch, with plumage glossed with 
a golden hue. 

7. Flaxen canary finch, with the down fair, or 
unmixed with black. 

8. Flaxen canary finch, with white tail. 

9. Common yellow canary finch. 

10. Yellow canary finch, with the down yellow, 
and unmixed with black. 

11. Yellow canary finch, with a white tail. 

12. Common agate-coloured canary finch. 

13. Agate-coloured canary finch, with red eyes. 

14. Agate-coloured canary finch, with white tail. 

15. Agate. coloured canary finch, with the down 
of the same colour. 

16. The common yellow dun-coloured canary 
finch. 

17. Yellow dun-coloured canary finch, with red 
eyes. 



THE CANARY. 113 

18. Yellow dun-coloured canary finch, with plum- 
age glossed with a golden hue. 

19. Yellow dun-coloured canary finch, with the 
down of the same colour. 

20. White canary finch, with red eyes. 

21. Common variegated, or spangled canary finch. 

22. Variegated canary finch, with red eyes. 

2.3. Canary finch, variegated, with fair or flaxen 
colour, 

24. Canary finch, variegated, with flaxen colour, 
and having red eyes. 

25. Canary finch, variegated with black. 

26. Canary finch, variegated with black and fine 
yellow, having red eyes. 

27. Canary finch, regularly spangled with black 
and yellow. 

28. Canary finch, entirely of a fine yellow. 

29. Crested canary finches, some grey, yellow, 
and black crests. 

The canary proves fertile and thrives best with 
the Serin and Citral. The Serin is a bird of small 
size, being not much larger than the common linnet. 
Its upper mandible is brown, the under whitish ; the 
plumage above, brown, mixed with yellowish green ; 
beneath, greenish yellow, and having the sides mark- 
ed with spots of brown ; the wings are marked with 
a greenish band ; quills and tail brown, edged With 
greenish grey, and the legs brown. The Citral is 
larger than the Serin, has a louder note, and is found 
in Geneva, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain ; the plu- 
mage above is of a yellowish green, spotted with 
brown ; beneath a greenish yellow, wings dusky and 
greenish, and the legs flesh-colour. 



114 THE CANARY. 

These two have been frequently confounded with 
the common canary, it is therefore necessary to 
be thus particular in attending to their distinguish- 
ing characteristics, for although in reality essentially 
different in general appearance and habits, they are 
nearly assimilated. 

The canary is not so tender nor so difficult to rear 
as is generally imagined, A good situation, how- 
ever, is absolutely necessary. They cannot do with- 
out the warmth of the sun, but must be protected 
from the scorching glare of his beams. They 
should, therefore, always be placed near a window 
with a South-East, a South, or a South-Western ex- 
posure. 

We tried to breed them in our own sanctum in the 
neighbourhood of Edinburgh, during the year 1837, 
but the window was a sky-light^ sloping to the north 
— no direct sun-beam visited the cage — the birds 
were good and the hen laid well, but no egg was 
ever chipped. A villainous cat, a stranger too, tore 
her from her perch through the wires, without leav- 
ing a feather behind, — which prevented us from try- 
ing her in a better situation next year, where we 
have not the slightest doubt she would have com- 
pletely succeeded. By cross-breeding and gradually 
accustoming the young to exposed situations, they 
will be brought to sing and thrive under almost any 
circumstances, but it must never be forgotten, that 
the warmth of the sun is indispensable for successful 
incubation. The original canary is in the estima- 
tion of the fancy now below par. Mules and the 
indefinite varieties produced by cross-breeding, are 



THE CANARY. 115 

now (and justly) the favourites. Whatever they be, 
and by whatever name called, high authority has 
pronounced that they must possess the following 
characteristics — viz. a fine large cap or crown (ex- 
tending over the whole of the back part of the head) 
of a deep rich orange colour, (not a lemon cast) ; 
and the same richness of ground must prevail in all 
its other parts, except where the rules prescribe 
black, viz. in the wings and tail, in which the feathers 
must be black home to the quill ; the tail must have 
twelve black feathers, and each wing, eighteen feath- 
ers black to the quill. Their backs the first year 
are always more or less spangled or mottled ; and 
the first time they change or moult their quill feath- 
ers they become lighter. Indeed, every season after 
the first, they change all their feathers lighter and 
lighter. Therefore, their beauty for prize showing 
is always in the first season, from seven to nine 
months old ; and to produce a good breed, these re- 
quisites of feathers are as necessary in the hen as 
cock, which circumstance renders hens valuable. 

Some object to the keeping of birds in cages alto- 
gether, and urge principle in favour of their preju- 
dice, but this has been well stated in an excellent 
little book published by Mr. West of Glasgow, in the 
following terms : " The breeding and rearing of 
birds is so harmless and interesting an amusement, 
that the number of persons who indulge in it creates 
no surprise ; indeed, the wonder would be were it 
otherwise. It is by no means said that persons who 
have a little spare time on their hands could not em- 
ploy it to better purpose than the breeding of cana- 



116 THE CANARY. 

ries ; still, many persons employ such moments to 
purposes not half so pleasant, nor yet so innocently. 
For ' these splendid birds possess all those qualities 
that can soothe the heart or cheer the fancy ; the 
brightest colours, the roundest forms, the most active 
manners, and the sweetest music' And it is surely 
much better to breed canaries than guinea-pigs, or 
white mice ! — the latter especially is very poor 
taste. Mice plague us enough sometimes, and we 
should not trouble ourselves to have them multiplied. 
Besides, it is not very consistent, in a land like ours, 
to wage a cruel and bloody war against the poor 
black, and to pet and pamper the whites. 

" Talking of liberty, it has been said by some en- 
thusiasts, that to confine birds in cages is cruel, and 
that no person who had truly the love of liberty at 
heart would be guilty of such an offence. But it is 
easy to see that this scruple cannot apply to canaries, 
or indeed to any completely domesticated bird ; and 
instead of its being cruel to keep our canaries in 
cages, it would be much more so to turn them into 
the open air ; for in meeting with liberty, they would 
also meet with death. It must have often been ob- 
served by persons in the habit of keeping domesticat- 
ed birds, that they never show in any degree the least 
uneasiness on account of their confinement ; but on 
the contrary,evince great fear when set at liberty, and 
are quite unhappy till they are safely lodged in their 
wiry tenement." 

The canary is no lover of liberty ; it has no desire 
to roam. Home, sweet home, is its favourite song, 
and it never appears to miss the tree in the land of 



THE CANARY. 117 

its adoption. The cage is its palace — the perch is 
pleasanter to it than the carpeted parlour — there it 
loves and labours — it chaunts its note and builds its 
nest ; and while many other prisoners pine in captivi- 
ty, and sigh to be free, the canary, in its wiry cell, 
improves in feather and in song, and appears happier 
than its progenitors, when skimming the waters 
around their native isles. To produce, and to watch 
the production of some of the varieties of this beau- 
tiful bird, is at once an interesting study for the head, 
and a source of enjoyment to the heart, either of old 
or young. It forms great familiarity with man ; it 
shows even something like human vanity in being 
taken notice of, and something like human cunning 
in defeating the designs of those who would intercept 
its wilfulness ; we have had them to sit on the edge, 
and to drink out of our breakfast cup, but we never 
saw one that could be lured into the cage door till 
its own time came. 

3. Matching. — Depth and richness of the orange- 
colour, is at present the prevailing taste in endeavour- 
ing to form a good match. In breeding fancy birds, 
a system so much practised in England, and on the 
Continent, and which is now rapidly extendinfj over 
Scotland, the grand requisite is a regular and well 
feathered hen, on which every thing else depends. 
But the qualities of the cock to which she is to be 
united, ought not to be neglected. He, to have a 
good progeny, even with the best hen, ought to be 
bold, strong, and sprightly, with bright and sparkling 
eyes, erect carriage, symmetrical form, and sparrow- 
hawk-like posture on the perch. The most promis- 



118 THE CANARY. 

ing marks, however, may lead astray, if no inquiry 
is made, and no knowledge obtained of the family 
from which the pair have descended. Having obtained 
this information, and being certain that the stock is 
good, breeding may be safely attempted, and all turn 
out well, and far beyond expectation, even when all 
the points to be desired are not perceptible, for some 
of our most beautiful fancy varieties have arisen from 
accidental crossing, and when all the appearances 
were most unfavourable, and most unlikely, accord- 
ing to ordinary calculation, to lead to such a result. 
Much must depend upon the skill, judgment, know- 
ledge, and tasie, in the fanciers in canaries, as well 
as horses and dogs ; but as particular rules, when 
not too slavishly followed, under ignorance of the 
truth that the exception is the key-stone of the rule, 
are excellent auxiliaries to general principle, we sub- 
join seven, by attending to which, the amateur, with 
a little patience and practice, may produce varieties, 
not only to his own delight, but to the envy of others. 
He himself will soon be able to form many more for 
his own guidance, but for the present, we content our- 
selves with the number of perfection. 

1. A fine, fancy, jonque cock, of a strong orange 
colour, with much black in his feathers, should be 
matched with a fine, soft coloured mealy hen, with 
as little black as possible, except her tail and wings, 
which must be regular and true. 

2. For a strong mealy cock, a healthy jonque hen, 
with a fine soft feather, and regularly marked tail and 
wings, should be adopted ; and birds from the same 



THE CANARY. 119 

nest should never be joined, as this will reduce and 
weaken the progeny to a certainty. 

3. Among the fancy breeding amateurs, strength 
of feather me^ns a considerable quantity of black 
spangles on the back, and too much black colour in 
general when the belly feathers are blown asunder; 
and they are without silkiness or softness of feather, 
apparent in finer, richer coloured birds, which, when 
their belly feathers are breathed aside, feel fine, soft, 
and white, and they may be matched. 

The fancy canary is of an orange colour, except 
the wings and tail, which are black ; the cap or crown 
is of a very rich orange, extending over the whole 
back part of the head. Their backs, the first year, 
are always more or less mottled ; and the first time 
they change or moult their quill feathers, they become 
lighter. Hence, their beauty for prize showing is 
always the first season, from seven to nine months 
old. Depth or richness of the orange colour is the 
grand object to be attended to in order to produce the 
real fancy ; for the orange must not, by any means, 
be of the lemon cast. The male should be matched 
with a fine orange coloured mealy female, with the 
cap, wings, and tail regular, and with a fine feather. 

4. For breeding with, mealy hens are always the 
most successful, because by their union with a span- 
gle-marked cock, a more regular and finely marked 
cock is produced, than if the most beautifully span- 
gled cock and hen had been the parents. According 
to St. Pierre, contrast is the law of nature. At all 
events, with regard to canaries this rule holds good, 



120 THE CANARY. 

that like should never be matched with like. Here 
extremes meet, and by the union excellent is the off. 
spring. Therefore, if one is weak, let it be matched 
with one that is strong ; if one is dark, let the other 
be fair; one spotted, let the other be plain; if the 
one be crowned, let not even the shadow of a crown 
or coronet grace the brow of the other, and the excel- 
lence possessed by the one, which the other wants, 
will be found in higher perfection in the progeny than 
the single parent to which the happy quality belong- 
ed. In the feathered tribes, more than in all others, 
it will be found that the greatest harmony springs 
from opposition. 

5. To produce a full coloured fine yellow bird, with- 
out spot or splash, which, next to fancy, is highly es- 
teemed for its beauty, a fine large mealy hen, bred 
from a clean yellow stock, should be matched with a 
clean bred jonque cock. With every precaution, the 
most accurate attention, and the minutest observa- 
tion, a spot or splash may appear in the brood, un- 
less it is previously distinctly ascertained that the 
parent birds came from a clear bred stock. If any 
of the progenitors have been spotted or splashed, the 
defect may have leapt over one generation, and it 
may appear in the next, 

6. Beautiful pie-coloured birds are produced by 
taking a fine clear jonque cock, matching him with 
a rich dark-coloured green or grey hen. By such a 
union the offspring will always be more or less pied ; 
they have in general an exceedingly clear pipe, and 
are reckoned not only strong, but sweet songsters. 

7. That class of canaries whose feathers are be- 



THE CANARY. 121 

spangled all over with green and black, are called 
lizards, from the resemblance of their plumage to the 
coat of the reptile whose name tliey bear. By match- 
ing a pair of strikingly marked fancy birds, the 
strength of whose colours is glaring, that strong black 
mixture resembling the lizard is produced. The 
same result may also be obtained by matching a 
common strongly marked grey cock, with a splash- 
marked hen. Dark variegated birds may be got by a 
strong splashed common canary, with a fancy hen. 
Those that are all dark and sparrow-marked make 
fine singers. A strong grey or green canary, united 
to a mealy coloured hen, must be got to produce the 
cinnamon colour. Those of a lighter colour called 
quakers, that are sometimes produced, are not much 
esteemed. By following up for two or three seasons 
consecutively, mealies with mealies,white or flaxen co- 
loured birds are produced, and by again crossing these 
with one with red eyes, another variety is obtained. 
In the cottages of England, many of these varieties 
are reared with great care and judgment, but with 
little expense or trouble ; and are afterwards brought 
to Edinburgh and Glasgow, where they bring high 
prices, and afford ample remuneration to the rearer. 
But why cause that to be imported to us, which could 
be so easily produced among ourselves ? Could our 
children ever be more usefully or rationally employ- 
ed, than in supplying the wants, studying the habits, 
and watching the peculiarities of tender creatures? 
Could a fair lady ever appear more interesting than 
when training her feathered favourite to hop from his 
wiry prison-house upon her lily finger, and in hear- 
9 



122 THE CANARY. 

ing him pour forth from that lovelj'^ perch his melo- 
dious notes. All indeed seem to have a partiality for 
the canary, but few indulge the thought, and many 
assert the impossibility, of rearing him for them- 
selves. But this we humbly apprehend is a grievous 
mistake, and we beg to hope, that by the multifarious 
modes of matching, which may be resorted to, when 
this interesting pursuit becomes more generally 
known, more splendid varieties than the world has 
yet seen will make their appearance, adding grace 
to the parlour and the drawing-room, gratifying the 
eye with the beauty of colour and form, and the ear 
with the melody of untaught music. 

4. Pairing. — The proper period for putting the 
birds together for the purpose of pairing, depends very 
much on the nature of the weather. In general the 
month of March is the best time, although in some 
seasons it may be done a month earlier, and in others 
it is advisable to wait a month longer. Some people 
make a boast of their attempts at very early pairing, 
but it is a very idle boast, as precocious breeding is 
never profitable, both injuring the constitution of tho 
parents, and turning out in general an inferior brood. 
Young birds have been produced even before this pe- 
riod, but it is at a great sacrifice, and under disad- 
vantages which will tell before the end of the season. 
They must be brought up, and at the early period of 
their existence, must subsist without that green 
food with which at a later period their parents, !!nd 
afterwards themselves, could be so abundantly sup- 
plied. What is gained in time is lost in power, as 



THE CANARr. 123 

in the summer months there will be less inclination 
and less capacity for incubation. 

Common canaries that have spent the winter to- 
gether, may indeed be put into the breeding cage and 
left to themselves ; in these circumstances they sel- 
dom breed too early, but it is also true they seldom 
breed well. It is better to separate them for a short 
time. Their long familiarity is apt to induce indif- 
ference, the greatest enemy to love, but after a short 
separation, old acquaintance is soon renewed, old love 
is speedily kindled, and you may calculate almost to 
an hour when the hen will begin to lay. 

Some breeders put the birds intended for breeding 
into a small cage, with only one upper perch, to make 
them familiar and sociable with each other. Others 
put them at first into the cage appointed for breed- 
ing ; the former method is allowed to be the best for 
fancy breeding. 

During the time they are pairing, they should be 
fed high, by giving them sparingly every morning a 
little chopped egg and bread, mixed with a little maw 
seed, and some bruised hemp seed. As soon as they 
become sociable, feed each other, and sleep on the 
perch close together, then the breeding cage for their 
reception may be prepared. 

It is needful to remark, some birds at first pairing 
will fight very much, and the hen strive for the mas- 
tership, but inmost cases, to the courage of the male 
be it spoken, without success. If they should fight 
too much, and will not come to any reconciliation 
in the course of one month's trialj it will be best to 
part them and try another hen. 



124 THE CANARY. 

These birds have their sympathies and antipathies, 
which nothing can subdue. The sympathy of a male 
has been shown by putting him alone in an aviary, 
where there are many females ; in a few hours he 
will make choice of one, and will not cease for an in- 
stant to show his attachment, by feeding her. Nay, 
he will even choose a female without seeing her ; it 
is sufficient that he should hear her cry, and he will 
not cease to call her. The same observation is also 
applicable to the female, and her being already be- 
spoke has been known to prove fatal ; when the new 
lover has died of grief. 

In some cases however all these sources of sympa- 
thy seem to be dried up within them, and an imme. 
diate antipathy, which no endearment nor fond caress 
can overcome, to have usurped its place. By no 
contrivance can such canaries be brought to pair. 
More cocks than hens appear thus constituted,^and 
these cocks are generally found to be the best sing, 
ers. 

Though sufficiently fond, they are not so faithful, as 
Addison in his pretty lines in the Spectator appears 
to imagine — - 

*' Chaste are their instincts, faithful is their fire ; 
Ko foreign duty tempts to false desire." 

This may be consistent enough with the fancy of the 
poet, but not with the practice of the fancier. They 
are by no means strictly monogamous. The cock, 
indeed, never aspires to the harem of the Sultan, 
but he might often be indicted for bigamy were a 



THE CANARY. 125 

sentence even of perpetual imprisonment to him any 
punishment. — Either cock or hen will, in general 
circumstances, very readily take up with another 
mate. It is also evident that their attachment is not 
confined to those of their own kind, as the beautiful 
variety of mules which has sprung from the canary 
and other tribes of finches abundantly testifies. 

The birds having at length been successtlilly pair- 
ed, all now depends upon season, situation, and cage. 

With regard to the season, we have already said it 
is better to be too early than too late. If March has 
been cold, and no favourable change takes place in 
April, they should be kept back as long as possible, 
as in such a season the hen is apt to become egg- 
bound, or to lay soft eggs : in the one case her life 
is endangered — in the other, her strength is wasted in 
vain. 

The situation is a matter of very considerable im- 
portance. To this we have already alluded, but 
must repeat more particularly that it should if pos- 
sible be exposed to the sloping beams of the morning 
sun, and protected from his meridian rays. If the 
sun does not leave the situation before noon, it is 
easy to cast the cage into shadow by a screen at a 
distance from it. — Pulling down the window-blinds, 
or placing chicken-w^eed on the top of the cage, to 
overhang the sides in festoons, is a simple process. 
When the weather is close and sultry, the window 
may be opened early, and when hot, left open all 
day; but cavetehqns — take care of cats. For many 
reasons the doors should be shut, draughts of air being 



126 THE CANARY. 

as pernicious to the eggs as feline intruders are to the 
birds. As the best situation to gain the morning sun 
and escape the north-easterly gales is S. by E., 
S.S.E., S.E. by S., or S.E., and not direct east, it is 
frequently cool from these points even in the month 
of May — precautions must be taken accordingly ; 
but an excess of heat is as prejudicial as cold. Too 
much warmth and want of air is apt to give the hen 
the sweating sickness while sitting, and to render the 
young weak and tender. 

The room into which the pair are placed should 
never require a fire ; hence an additional reason for 
not beginning too early ; it should neither be damp, 
dark, nor close, but dry, large, light, and airy. A 
cheerful situation and the morning sun give spirit, 
warmth, and animation to the birds. If draughts of 
air can be prevented and cats excluded during sum- 
mer, the window should be thrown completely open 
all day. If a good wire gauze can be made to pro- 
ject from the window, the birds can easily be placed 
under it, where they will get the air and enjoy the 
warmth without the scorching heat of the sun. 

The place for the birds to breed in having been 
chosen, the next consideration is the best kind of cage 
to hang up for their reception. If an old one is 
adopted, it ought to be thoroughly washed, scrubbed, 
rubbed, cleaned, and dried. After their long cessa- 
tion from use, vermin of various sorts are apt to lodge 
in the crevices, which, if not utterly exterminated, 
will grieve the heart both of bird and breeder. The 
cage should be so placed as to admit of a constant 



THE CANARY. 127 

view of the birds and an easy access without disturb- 
ing them. They should not be hung, unless for dis- 
agreeable reasons, and in disadvantageous circum- 
stances, out of reach, requiring to be lifted or drawn 
down to us, or to take stools or steps to get to them. 
They should at least be on a level with the line of 
vision. This familiarizes the birds with their keeper, 
makes him better acquainted with them, he can see 
at a glance what is going on, they become accus- 
tomed to any little motion or commotion that may be 
going on around, they will be less liable to be fright- 
ened and flustered by the appearance of danger, and 
in every respect the breeding cage will become a 
more manageable commodity than it generally is. 

Of the structure of the cage we shall afterwards 
take notice, but the one for breeding should have two 
nest boxes at one end, that the birds may have choice, 
always having the perches clean, and as stout as their 
claws can grasp and stand firm upon, likewise clean 
claws, without lumps of dirt on them ; for by having 
a steady, full sized perch, the birds hold fast, and 
when they tread they have no trouble or the fear of 
falling or slipping, or turning round on the perch, 
which is against a sure tread, and produces addled 
eggs. 

Some breeders pair a strong healthy male with 
two females, which in some cases does pretty well, 
provided that proper attention is paid to them. When 
two hens are intended to be put up with one male, 
they should be selected for that purpose at the end 
of harvest, and kept in one cage during the winter, 



128 THE CANARY. 

in order to make them familiar with each other. It 
Avill not do to put two hens with a male in one cage 
■without there being a temporary board in the mid- 
dle, to prevent the hens from seeing each other while 
they are hatching, or they will lly oil" their nests at 
each other, and fight like two little termagants, and 
in the scuffle the eggs, and consequently the hopes 
of the breeder, may be upset. But to prevent such 
vexations, let the breeder have two cages, and put 
up only one hen at a time, and after she has done 
laying, take tiie male out and put him up with the 
other hen, and so on to the end of the season. 

Sprinkle plenty of gravel or sea-sand at the bot- 
tom of your cage, and hang up in it a lump of good 
old mortar, the nibbling and biting of which keeps 
the birds in good health. As soon as you have put 
your birds up, keep feeding them high, and add a lit- 
tle moist sugar to the bread and egg until they have 
laid an egg or two ; the moist sugar opening the 
hens' bodies, and preventing them being egg-bound. 
Be sure the bread and egg are fresh every day ; and 
it is best to feed them over-night, so that they find it 
early and Iresh at break of day. Let the greens be 
always fresh, such as water cresses, radish tops, cos 
lettuce, cabbage lettuce, small sallad, as cresses, 
mustard, ^c, all young and green. I do not re- 
commend chickweed, nor groundsel ; nor plantain 
till it is ripe and full of seed. 

5. Breeding. — Tlie Canary is a most prolific bird, 
so much so, that in the great majority of instances 
the propensity requires to be restrained rather than 
encouraged. I'hey will have from two to five nests 



THE CANAllY. 129 

in the year ; and a few years ago a celobratecl fan- 
cier in Stirlingshire, had a canary which brought up 
safely and successfully eight broods in one season. 
But this was an experiment which he thought it cruel 
to make, and which it would be im|)rudent to repeat. 
They should not be allowed to breed more than 
twice, or at the most three times a year. If a hen 
is prolific one season, she will be the reverse the 
next, or she may be comj)letely destroyed by the ef- 
fort. One that has two or three nests, and four or 
five eggs each time, must be n mother sufficiently 
valuable, and to overtax her is both unwise and un- 
safe. 

The period of incubation lasts fourteen days, bat 
in very warm weather, the process may be comple- 
ted in thirteen days. Between seven and nine in 
the morning is their regular time of laying, and for 
the purpose of preventing waste of time, by permit- 
ting the hen to ait on unfecundated eggs, some 
breeders are in the habit of taking the eggs out when 
about eight days old, and holding them between their 
finger and thumb before a strong light, when it is 
ascertained tliat those which are transparent are 
unimpregnated and therefore useless, but the good 
ones are dark and thick. If they are all bad they 
should be thrown away ; the nest sliould be taken 
out, shaken and cleaned, and an inducement and an 
opportunity afforded the hen to lay again, which she 
Avill generaUy do in a very short time. After laying 
two or three eggs some hens will desert them, and it 
is found upon examination, that these eggs are in 
general bad ; nature, by some mysterious process, 



130 THE CANARY. 

giving the bird an instinctive hint, that to brood over 
them longer, would be love's labour lost. These, 
therefore, should be immediately broken, and the hen 
allowed to go to nest again. We confess it seems 
strange, that when nature tells the little creature so 
much, it does not teach her to do this for herself; 
for this however there may be many wise reasons, as 
it would be teaching her a very bad habit, which is 
one of the worst of things, either in feathered or un. 
feathered bipeds. 

It is recommended by some breeders, as soon as 
the canary has laid, to take out the egg every morn- 
ing and substitute an ivory one ; when the hen has 
done laying, take the ivory eggs away, and set her 
upon the whole of her own. Naturalists say that it 
gives the hen more satisfaction to see them come 
successively one after the other ; but experience has 
shown us that it is the better way to substitute the 
ivory egg, and daily take away the laid one, till she 
lays her complement ; and also to examine the eggs 
after the hen has been sitting eight days upon them, 
to save time and useless fatigue to the mother ; let 
all this, however, be done with as little annoyance as 
possible. 

Some females in breeding are very careless mo- 
thers, a fault which is not easily done away with. 
Therefore, if they cannot be brought to do any thrift 
the first season, avoid another season's trial. Others 
will eat their eggs, as will sometimes also the male. 
The best way to prevent this, is to feed the bird very 
early every morning with bread and egg, or the last 
thing at night for the morning, for the hen no sooner 



THE CANARY. 131 

lays her egg than sho leaves the nest and flies round 
the cage in search of food, which if she does not find, 
and that too in some delicate and dainty form, she re- 
turns to the nest in a rage and seems to break the 
eggs out of pure spite, more than from a desire to eat 
them. As another precaution when the hen is ad- 
dicted to this vice, the usual period for the laying of 
canaries should be carefully watched, and as soon as 
she has left it, the egg she has laid should be re- 
moved and the ivory ball substituted, and if this is 
done for four or five mornings, all the eggs may be 
returned, when there is a great chance of her settling 
down and sitting the requisite time. When the male 
eats the eggs, it is a sign of strength, through good 
feeding. Such males should have two hens. 

It will frequently happen with young mothers, 
that the first time of hatching they are so careful 
and anxious for the eggs that are not hatched, as not 
to leave their nest to feed the young that are hatched, 
and the consequence is, that the young birds are 
starved. The best preventive of this evil is to at- 
tend to the day they will be hatched, by keeping a 
register of the time when they were laid and set. 
The most enticing food, such as bread and egg, fresh 
greens, &c., should be placed before them, to remind 
them of the duty of feeding their young. If the hen 
is not observed feeding her young, or carrying 
food to them, she should be stirred out of the nest, to 
let her see that there is enough to satisfy her wants. 
If this is done three or four times the first day, by 
feeding as she goes out, and seeing her young ones 
gape as she comes in, she will soon be brought to feed 



132 THE CANARY. 

them, and the cock will soon follow her example. 
With every care to set the hen exactly to a day, it 
will happen that all the eggs are not chipped at the 
same time ; when this contingence takes place, 
every effort must be made to allure them to their du- 
ty, as we can scarcely conceive it within the range 
of mere instinct to inform them that there is ever 
laid upon them a double obligation. If there is any 
suspicion that either nest or eggs are damaged, the 
hen may be driven off to ascertain the fact. On this 
account it is of importance that the eggs should be 
so placed that you may come at the birds with ease 
to observe their actions, without annoying them. 

The technical terms and names given to young 
birds in general are a Nestling, or one from the nest ; 
a Pusher, a young bird that is taken three or four 
days after he has left his nest ; a Brancher is a bird 
full grown, but has his nestling feathers. This last 
is the best state to take linnets, goldfinches, chaf- 
finches, and hedge sparrows. It is not advantageous 
to take them in their first partial moult, as the 
change of diet and confinement frequently produces 
ill health, by spoiling the moult. The hedge spar- 
rows, though much despised, if taken when branch- 
ers and brought up for singing, will take the canary 
song so well, that you would not know them apart ; 
and the linnet brought up at this period may be 
taught any song, and become noted for that of the 
wood lark. The brancher chaffinch may be broken 
into any song so perfectly, that many would scarce- 
ly believe him to be a chaffinch. The goldfinch does 
not come up to the linnet, chaffinch, or hedge spar- 



THE CANARY. 133 

row for singing, but excels in plumage and producing 
fine coloured pied mules. 

Some breeders bring up young canaries by hand, 
which is very troublesome ; for you must feed them 
very early in the morning, and every two hours du- 
ring the day, but it must be done in precisely the 
same way and with the same food as with linnets. 
As they are almost the only birds which we take de. 
light in pairing for breeding, the satisfaction we 
have in supplying them with necessaries both for 
food and building, in observing their little courtships 
when pairing, their dexterity in building their nest, 
the readiness of the male to take his turn in all the 
duties of building, hatching and feeding, together 
with the continual melody wherewith they charm 
us, — all afford a pleasure as serene and exquisite as 
any we can feel. In my humble opinion, such little 
offices are preferable to any we can perform for 
them. If a cock or hen should die, early in the 
breeding season, and it is worth while, having time 
in hand, you must choose a mate as near as possible 
in colour, age, and size to the deceased ; for there is 
always most sympathy with those that resemble 
their own choice. 

As for cleanliness, air, and exercise, when birds 
have brought up a nest of young ones, watch the op- 
portunity to clean out the nest box, and if this be ve- 
ry dirty, throw away the dirt and nest. Then let the 
birds have plenty of clean materials, and you will 
soon see them build another nest ; and I have fre- 
quently known them to build another nest in one day. 
Neglect of the main point, cleanliness, which pro- 



134 THE CANARY. 

motes health, and keeps away the red mites, causes 
many breeders much trouble, vexation, and disap- 
pointment. 

When the breeding season is over, and the birds 
all put into the cages, let them not be fed with much 
green food ; indeed, at no time give much, as it is 
better to give none at all, than too much. Begin- 
ners cannot be cautioned enough regarding this, as 
many hundreds of canaries die every year from no 
other cause than being surfeited with green meat. 

6. Mule Breeding. — Some naturalists are of opin- 
ion that the hybrid of the canary forms an exception, 
and instead of being barren is fruitful, and can pro- 
pagate its kind. Baron Cuvier, in his " Animal 
Kingdom," states this doctrine, but only to disprove 
it. The same opinion was taken up by Goldsmith, 
who only derived it from books, and is also maintain, 
ed by several eminent naturalists. The same is said, 
if we remember rightly, of the progeny of the part- 
ridge and pheasant, but in both cases equally without 
foundation. A priori, we might pronounce it contra- 
ry to an established law of nature, as all observation 
attests it to be notoriously contrary to the fact. 
From experience, tried by many individuals, some- 
times with great patience for a long series of years, 
no fertility has ever been found to follow. Eggs will 
be laid and all the duties of mothers performed, but 
here the matter ends ; and this no more implies the 
reproductive power of the canary mule, than the lay- 
ing and setting of the domestic fowl without a cock. 
But although no posterity follows, the first operation 



THE CANARY. 135 

is sufficiently interesting to make the subject of mule 
breeding worthy of attention. 

There are various kinds of cross breeding, or what 
is termed mule breeding ; that is, a union with other 
country finches, or small hard billed birds, such as 
the Venturon, the Cini or Serin, the Aberdevine, the 
English Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Linnet, 
Hedge Sparrow, Yellow Hammer, and Bullfinch, 
united with the cock and hen canaries ; which re- 
quire some notice and attention. 

None in this country is so common as the union of 
the goldfinch and linnet ; therefore, the following ob- 
servations and experience may be of use. Gold- 
finches should be completely domesticated. It is 
best to have them quite young, on purpose to train 
them up well to eat the rape and canary seeds, which 
improve their feather, color, and health. Gross hemp 
seed ultimately rots them, and changes the bright- 
ness and colour of their plumage to brown. 

To breed with the cock goldfinch and hen canary, 
if not trained, and there is no respect paid to age, 
get a strong healthy cock, caught in the beginning 
of the month of April, for then he is considered rank, 
seeking his mate : 

'» All nature seems at work : slugs leave their lair — 
The bees are stirring — birds are on the wmg — 
And Winter, slumbering in the open air, 
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring." 

Coleridge. 

If he can be prevented from being sulky on account 
of his confinement and change of diet, he may make 
a good husband. But if the change should produce 



136 THE CANARY. 

scouring, which it is very apt to do, he must be fed 
for a time on hemp and flax seed, with some scraped 
chalk given him into his cage. Thistle-seed, espe- 
cially that of the great white thistle, which is his 
favourite, will tend greatly to counteract and cure 
the complaint. He may then be paired with a ca- 
nary, and if the young ones are marked with tolera- 
bly equal portions of colour, they may be considered 
handsome birds. 

The general way is to pair the hen canary with 
the cock goldfinch or cock linnet ; but it is far better 
to pair the cock canary with the hen goldfinch and 
hen linnet. It is, however, far harder to domesticate 
and break the latter in than a canary hen, for which 
reason they are seldom tried. The breed from the 
cock canary is stronger and finer, and inherits more 
of the canary song. The breed from a cock linnet 
and hen canary are never equal in beauty of feather 
to the breed of the cock goldfinch and hen canary ; 
but in song they are the best of all the mule produc- 
tions. The young from a cock canary and hen gold, 
finch differ very much in beauty ; some have turned 
out quite white, although this is rare and valuable on 
account of its variety. This case may occur if the 
cock was beautiful, clear, mealy, strong, and in good 
health. Those of a bluish cast generally spring from 
a greenfinch cock and hen canary : those of the bull- 
finch are scarce, but are susceptible of a good edu- 
cation, and their plumage is singular, but their alli- 
ance rarely thrives. 

It appears from experience, that of all birds cou- 
pled with the canary, the serin finch has the strong- 



THE CANARY. 137 

est voice, and is the most vigorous and ardent for 
propagation. It also appears, that it is the only one 
whose mules are fertile, which argues close affinity 
if not identity of species. 

There is likewise great sympathy between the sis- 
kin and canary ; and the former will, in a state of 
nature, seek the society of canaries. Mr. Willough- 
by calls the Aberdevine the siskin, from its name, 
Seisel, by which this bird is known in Austria and 
the south of France. It is a merry little bird, and 
arrives in England every spring. It is known in 
Sussex by the name of the barley bird, being always 
found there at the above season of the year. Its 
plumage is of a yellow green cast ; it resembles the 
canary in feather, but is smaller, and the song is soft 
and pleasing, and when in health it is a merry, lively 
bird. The Germans, it is said, are fond of pairing 
the siskin with the canary. Those who have tried 
in Enn;land have found no advantage arisino; from it, 
as they produce a small breed, and no improvement 
in voice or feather. 

Much experience, attention to nature, and obser- 
vation, are required in cross or mule-breeding, to do- 
mesticate and break in the birds to the canary food, 
and to know their age. For example: linnets should 
not bs turned up to breed till two years old, when 
crossed with the canary. A goldfinch hen ought to 
be two years old, as she seldom lays eggs the first 
year in a cage. And, observe nature in putting 
your birds up to breed : that is, to fall in about their 
own natural time, be the bird whatever it may. You 
must not expect mule or cross breeding to be ever 
10 



138 THE CANARY. 

prolific ; the Aberdevine and Serin finches are the 
most prolific, (probably this is the reason the Ger- 
mans choose them to breed from,) the goldfinch next, 
and the linnet seldom more than one nest in a season. 

To domesticate and rear up young goldfinches, lin- 
nets, chaffinches, hedge sparrows, bullfinches, &c., 
it would not be amiss to get their eggs from the nest, 
and set them under the canary hen, in the same man- 
ner that many fancy breeders keep a good gay breed- 
ing hen to hatch and breed up the fancy canaries' eggs. 

In the finch tribe, it may be noticed there are two 
distinct and separate species ; the one hard-billed, 
living upon seed ; the other soft-billed, living on 
flesh, soft food, and insects. Any of the hard-billed 
birds may be paired with the canary, the others will 
not unite. Mule breeding will do best in the coun- 
try, as good air and a lively situation is essential for 
breeding with any thing like success. Those who 
wish to amuse themselves with mule-breeding, must 
not feel disappointed in losing for a season or two. 
It is always with the greatest difficulty that any 
thing is produced from the greenfinch, bullfinch, 
chaffinch, or yellow-hammer. 7'herefore, it is better 
to take the eggs of these finches, and let them be 
hatched and brought up by canary mothers. 

As mules will not breed, some do not like such a 
race of hens thrown upon their hands useless, but it 
is affirmed that there are more males by far than fe. 
males. If this be true, there is some little recom- 
pense in mule breeding. 

This is the whole that is deemed necessary to ad- 
vance on this subject. A great deal more might 



THE CANARY. 139 

have been said, but as it will require a little experi- 
ence to become acquainted with the general method 
of mule-breeding, which cannot be got by any thing 
we could say, we therefore leave that part to the 
reader, confident that a little attention and observa- 
tion will overcome any difficulties to which he may 
be exposed. 

7. Feeding. — The seed that now universally goes 
by its own name is the common food of the canary, 
and on it alone it thrives sufficiently, especially when 
kept single as the " pet of the parlour," and merely 
for the purposes of song ; but when intended for 
breeding and to produce fancy varieties, something 
more is required. High feeding is essential to them 
from the first moment they are set to pair till the 
time they are separated, and this is generally com- 
posed of animal food and hard boiled egg mixed with 
seed. The egg should always be fresh, and if possi- 
ble newly laid. The egg, when boiled hard, should 
be chopped, and mixed with dry stale grated bread 
or roll, in quantity proportionally greater than that 
of the egg itself. A little soft sugar, with some 
mawseed, is an excellent addition, and with these 
they will rear up their young healthy and well. It 
is recommended to place a small cup in the cage 
containing a few groats, which form a very substan- 
tial diet, to which a zest will be given by a supply 
of some green food, such as chick-weed, groundsel, 
or ripening dandelion tops, gathered — let it ever be 
remembered — fresh every morning. All stale food 
and refuse of every kind should be daily removed, 
and if this is not attended to, gripes and hoarseness 



140 THE CANARY. 

in the young birds will be the consequence — evilsr 
more easily prevented than removed. Night is bet- 
ter than morning for supplying the more substantial 
food, as at the first peep of dawn they will find their 
repast fresh, clean, and tidy, of which they will par- 
take with a keener relish than after their appetite 
has been clogged with garbage. In the morning, 
greens, water cresses, radish tops, cabbage lettuce, 
should be given, fresh and sparingly ; and if chick- 
weed or groundsel is given, let them be ripe, and not 
much at a time. Some persons keep their birds en- 
tirely on rape seed ; but it is too relaxing, and ulti- 
mately kills them. Canaries should always be allow- 
ed plenty of clean water and gs-avelly soil. Besides 
water for drinking, they should be allowed twice a 
week some to wash themselves ; a saucer is the best 
vessel for holding it. The female, while hatching, 
should not get water to wash herself, as that might 
retard the incubation, and even run a chance of rot- 
ting the eggs. 

8. Cages. — The forms of cages deemed suitable for 
fiiiches, are as various as the fancies of the purchas- 
er, or the tastes of the wire-workers. Some con- 
tend for them being small, while others cannot have 
them large enough, the former only regarding the 
singing — the latter, air and exercise. For their re- 
spective objects, each has its advantages. The mere 
shape is altogether a matter of taste, for it does not 
signify much, unless for breeding, when an oblong is 
evidently the only proper form. For this purpose, 
the kind now most in use, are about 18 inches by 11, 
and 12 in height ; the perches are placed four inch- 



THE CANARY. 141 

es and a half from the ends of the cage, to keep 
the tails clear, which will allow 7 inches of a leap, 
which is long enougli. The nest box is placed on 
the outside, at the end of the cage, and is not a fix- 
ture, but can be removed at any time. Those cages 
with two perches below, and one above, in the mid- 
dle of the two below, should not be used, as they 
tend to diminish the stately appearance of the birds; 
but those with only two perches on a level, give birds 
by far the best shape. The cage should be thickly 
and firmly wired, to prevent, as much as possible, the 
mischief frequently done by mice, who often eat the 
eggs, and even tlie young ones. If the birds are at- 
tacked by a cat, which also happens, they have the 
best chance of escaping that are in a closely wired 
cage, provided it be firmly fixed up. The wire should 
always be of iron, as canaries are ever nibbling at 
it ; brass wires become wet, and get covered with 
poisonous verdigris, which is not good for birds. It 
is recommended to have cages painted, either inside 
or out, with common oil paint ; they may be var- 
nished on the outside, or colored with lime wash, 
mixed with a little blue or green, as the reflection of 
white weakens the sight. All cages should have a 
large door in front of them, which is very convenient 
for many purposes. 

In purchasing an old cage, or putting up breeding 
cages which may have been out of use for some time, 
see that they are not beset with red mites, like bugs 
in old furniture ; and that there are no old looking, 
dry, musty places about the hinges, doors, or nest 
boxes. Wash them well with strong yellow soap- 



142 THE CANARY. 

suds and pearl ashes ; and when dry, they may be 
washed over with the following lotion : spirit of tur- 
pentine, and spirit of wine, equal parts ; in which 
dissolve some camphor and soda, about the size of a 
scarlet bean ; mix this well together, and keep it in 
a bottle, closely corked, for use ; before using it, 
shake it up, and dip into it a small brush, with which 
wash over the cage, and let it dry for a day or two 
in any airy place to carry off the smell. This de- 
stroys all the red mites and other vermin that lurk in 
the crevices, and that in the heat of summer would 
pour forth their hosts to annoy the birds both old 
and young. Soak the water glasses and fountains 
in pearl-ash and water for a few minutes, to cleanse 
them from scurf and green. Here it may be thought 
proper to notice what is termed the stock cage, so 
much in use by the fancy breeders in England. This 
cage is about one foot in width, nine inches in height, 
and nine inches in depth, with a wire front only, and 
a groove to run a glass in, to shut them close, or ad- 
mit air, at pleasure ; the top of the cage is half wired, 
and made with a flat leaf, to cover or open as may 
be thought necessary, and through which to view the 
inmates. Immediately after the young birds leave 
their parents, they are put into one of these cages, 
where they are kept warm, which throws them into 
an artificial fever, and this produces the moult. The 
first moult is only partial, as only their nest feathers 
fall off, when they are in full plumage. 

It is thought that heat and closeness produce a 
fine soft feather, and the finer the feather, the bright- 
er will be the colour. But it must not be concealed, 



THE CANARY. 143 

that scarcely one out of three survives this operation. 
Seldom more than one bird is put into such a cage, 
for fear they should fight and pluck each other's 
feathers. 

Stock cages are very convenient to have at hand, 
for sick birds, to nurse and bring them about ; but we 
do not approve of the use that is generally made of 
them. No doubt, in time of moulting, it is necessa- 
ry to be careful of birds ; and, should their moult 
seem to proceed slowly, cover the cage round with 
paper, leaving the front open, putting a little saffron 
in their water, to assist them to throw off their fea- 
thers, as they have not the exercise they would have 
in a state of nature. But to keep birds so closely as 
is done in these cages makes them weak and delicate, 
analogous to green-house plants, and incapable of 
standing the least cold ; so much so, that some have 
died when caught, with the fluttering and cold touch 
of the hand. Even at the best of times, when moult- 
ed from one of these cages, they must be considered 
as green-house plants, and dealt with accordingly. 
But by pursuing the ordinary method, great trouble 
is saved, and fine healthy, lively, and strong birds 
reared, capable of standing most situations. 

9. Building. — The materials used and recommend- 
ed for building are numerous and varied, but the 
principal points to be attended to are warmth and 
cleanliness. Of whatever stuff the nest is composed 
it should always be new. The materials of the old 
nest must be unscrupulously rejected, unless it is 
wished to colonize the new one with red mites, and 
all sorts of vermin. All old fabrics indeed are bad. 



144 THE CANARY. 

as from them the woolly surface has been much rub- 
bed off, and little but the cold fibre left behind. 

The wooden cup, box, or basket^ should have put 
into it a little fine fresh clean elk's hair mixed with 
soft dried moss, and some white wool neatly dispos- 
ed, so as to give as little trouble as possible to the 
bird in forming it into the shape of a nest. Previous 
to doing so, we ourselves have often successfully, 
although we know not whether it has been sanction- 
ed or practised by others — rubbsd the inside of the 
nest box with strong warm glue, and while in a li- 
quid state allowed it to retain as much wool as could 
be gently dipped upon it, while the roll was instantly 
lifted up. This forms a fixed and warm foundation. 
We have also lined our boxes with undressed fur, and 
have found that altliouo;h the materials afterwards 
placed upon it were scanty, the nest was sufficiently 
warm for successful incubation. 

About a handful of these should be put into the 
nest and hung up in the cage, which, with the pre- 
paration previously made in the breeding apartment, 
the birds will find little trouble in forming their nests. 

Someti;nes before the young are ready to quit one 
nest, the hen will feel a desire to build another. This 
she will sometimes do, even on the top of her young, 
and thus smother them. 

10. Sex. — It is not at all times easy to distinguish 
between cock and hen. By an experienced fancier, 
it can be done indeed at a glance, and some are even 
able to point out the cocks almost as soon as they 
are hatched. 

Both the size and the singing are pretty good dis- 



THE CANARY. 145 

tinguishing marks between male and female, but some- 
times even these are not sufficient, as many a gigan- 
tic hen has been found, and as there have been crow- 
ing hens in the barn yard, they have not been alto- 
gether banished from the canary cage. Some fe- 
males, by their musical attempts, have deceived the 
unskilful, and sometimes even the knowing ones 
have been taken in, and have remained sceptical till 
the reputed gentleman began to lay eggs. This is 
the most conclusive test of all. A hen may try to 
sing, but no cock, as flir as we know, has ever at- 
tempted to lay eggs. But the sure way to distinguish 
the female's jabbering from the legitimate song of the 
male is, that thou^jh a male may sing ever so indif- 
ferently, every time he strikes a note, the passage of 
his throat will heave with a pulsive motion, and con- 
tinue so all the time he is singing ; but let the fe- 
male sing ever so well, this motion is never observed 
in her throat as in the male's. Another way to dis- 
tinguish the male from the female is, the color above 
the bill, under the throat, and the pinion of the wings, 
is of a brighter hue in the male : for let birds be of 
what shade of color they may, the male will always 
have a brighter yellow on the above-mentioned 
places, which is always pale and languid in the fe- 
male. But what is as good a criterion as any other, 
is the largeness, vigor, and majestic carriage of the 
male, which he always shows, if in good health, by 
stretching himself out to*his utmost extent. The fe- 
male is generally smaller and shorter, especially from 
the legs to the vent, and of a more sudden roundness, 
required by nature for containing and laying her 



THE CANARY. 146 

eggs ; the male in that part is slim and long, ending 
in a small point under the tail. 

11. Singing. — According to Lucretius, the song of 
birds is the source of all music. What from them it 
was first our privilege to derive, it is now our plea- 
sure to communicate, that it may be received back 
again in delightful reciprocity. The origin of music 
in every country has been from the woods and lawns. 
The most ancient melodies, in their simple pathos 
and plaintive wildness, give evident proof that the 
songsters of the grove first formed the taste and 
tuned the ear of the earliest musicians. The shep- 
herd's reed or pipe, of few notes, and of the plain dia- 
tonic scale, without semi-tones, flats, or sharps, was 
plainly first formed to imitate the song of birds. All 
the music that science has formed, or art has taught, 
is founded upon the sounds that Nature furnishes. 

Et zephiri cava per calamorura sibila primum, 
Agresteis docuere cavas inflare cicutas. 

In this point of view, even the canary assumes 
somewhat of a dignified attitude, and for it high ho- 
nor might be claimed, as from the facility of its do- 
mestication it can be made to bring so much of the 
music of the groves to our hearts and to our homes. 

Even those who have no soul for artificial music, 
and who remain unmoved under the energetic strains 
of a Braham, and unmelted by the sweet warblings 
of a Stephens, have listened with delight to the carol 
of the lark, or the note of the nightingale. No poetry 
has ever warmed the heart of him whose ear has not 
been charmed with music. No one can touch the 
golden lyre whose heart-strings have not vibrated at 



THE CANARY. 147 

the native wood-note wild. Poetry and music are 
two sisters ever inseparably entwined in one fond 
embrace. The voice may indeed be unable to modu- 
late the melody with which the ear is filled, the lips 
may be unable to extract its sound from the flute, 
the fingers may grate across the strings of the violin 
— in every musical instrument we may lose our cun- 
ning, but we have a never-failing friend to supply the 
place of them all. 

De gustibus non disputandunit therefore, no certain 
rules can be laid down with regard to the singing of 
the canary, by which all will be satisfactorily guid- 
ed. All birds, indeed, are agreeable in their different 
songs; the sky-lark, for his vast compass of natural 
notes ; the linnet, for his docility in imitating regular 
music, and taking the wood-lark's song ; and the gold- 
finch, for his agreeableness and attachment to his 
house. 

Canaries, with long, straight and tapering bodies, 
are found, by observation, to be the finest in song, 
while, on the contrary, short, thick-set cocks are 
found to be harsh and abrupt in their notes, and to be 
deficient in the power of their lungs. When it is de- 
sired to make young canaries good songsters, they 
should, if possible, be put under the nightingale or 
tit-lark for tuition. The German method, but we 
beg to doubt its propriety, to produce fine songsters, 
is to cover the cage all day and to expose the birds 
in the evening to a strong light, when by making any 
noise, they are induced to sing. It is better to place 
two or three birds together, as they will vie with 
each other. 



148 THE CANARY. 

12. Teaching. — The canary bird, when young, can 
be taught almost any tune by means of whistling, the 
flageolet, or bird-organ. It is best to teach them by 
recording their own notes as soon as they are able 
to feed themselves. Whatever may be the instru- 
ment used to teach them, it should be sweet and mel- 
low in its tone. For further instructions, better can- 
not be given than those of the celebrated Lewis Do 
Berg, which he gives in the following remarks : 

"There is neither lark, linnet, bullfinch, nor gold- 
finch," says this celebrated bird-fancier, " but that 
may be brought to as great perfection in song as the 
canary finch, but the English do not take the pains 
a German does ; they love to sleep, while the Ger- 
man is tuning his pipe and instructing his feathered 
songster. There is more to be done with the lark 
from two or three o'clock in the morning, than can 
bo done in many months in the day-time, or when 
the least noise or sound is to be heard but from the 
instructor ; and this rule holds good with all finches. 
Every thing should be quiet but the master. As it is 
with the human kind, so it is with the feathered : a 
good master often makes a good scholar ; and a good 
tutor seldom fails of making a good bird. I say, be- 
gin with your birds when all is quiet ; they will then 
take much more notice of what you endeavor to teach 
them. The age for beginning to instruct should not 
exceed three months. I sometimes begin sooner, and 
seldom stay less than an hour with each bird. I 
sometimes use my pipe, sometimes whistle, sometimes 
sing, but whichever method I adopt, seldom fail of 
bringing up birds to please ; insomuch, that I have 



THE CANARY, 149 

often sold a lark for two guineas ; a linnet for one 
guinea ; a bullfinch, when it could pipe finely, from 
five to ton guineas ; and a goldfinch from one to two 
guineas. In short, the whole of bringing up a bird 
to sing well, depends entirely on visiting him early, 
and furnishing him the last thing before you leave 
him, with what he is to eat for the day. He should 
be supplied daily with fresh water in his fountain, 
and small gravel at the bottom of his cage ; but short 
allowance in eating is absolutely necessary to make 
him a good songster. When I come to him in the 
morning, he is glad to see me ; supposing him hun- 
gry, (says the German) he will soon begin to talk to 
me, and bid me welcome. At first approaching my 
bird, I very often give him three or four grains of 
rice, which have been steeped in canary. I some- 
times add a little saffron or cochineal to the w^ater, 
according as I find my bird in health and strength, 
and I seldom fail of being rewarded with a song for 
my pains. In the general way of feeding the larks, 
I give a small quantity of bruised rice, with egg and 
bread, and now and then a few hemp seeds. I feed 
the smaller birds with rape seed, and a very little 
canary with it, the latter being apt to make them 
grow fat and dull. I give them likewise at times a 
little bruised rice, which does abundance of service, 
and most assuredly prevents tli^^ir falling into a scour- 
ing, which is the death of many a fine bird. Birds 
accustomed to this way of feeding are seldom trou- 
bled with what is called the pip ; they shed their 
feathers with far more ease than other birds, are in 
general much prone to singing, and have a more 



150 THE CANARY. 

agreeable note than birds that have not been so 
trained. 

" The reader should observe that when I order 
grains of bruised rice to be given, I always expect 
that the rice had been jEirst soaked in canary wine, 
and afterwards dried carefully for use, (though giving 
a bird occasionally a few grains whilst they are wet 
or moist, with this excellent liquor, does mighty well, 
but it is not to be constantly practised;) the rice is 
only to be roughly bruised, so as to make it tender, 
and consequently easier to be eaten by the birds. I 
have observed tnany people in Enghmd give birds loaf 
sugar, which is a great error. I advise in its place a 
small lump of bay salt or cuttle-bone, and now and 
then a drop or two of the spirits of nitre in their wa- 
ter. If you proceed according to these directions, 
you will find your birds equal to those of any other 
nation." 

13. Diseases. — If proper care is taken, the canary 
is subject to few diseases. Those that do arise, may 
all be traced to carelessness and inattention. If duly 
fed, their cages regularly cleaned and kept in good 
air, it is seldom that the birds are found in bad health. 
In a state of nature they are liable to many misfor- 
tunes, but what are their diseases the records of no 
ornithological hospital can tell. In a state of domes- 
tication their health can be better observed and more 
carefully attended to, and some hints can be given 
how it may be preserved or restored. 

Colds are the most general complaint, and they are 
almost all owing to carelessness. How frequently 
are birds hung up close to the top corner of a win- 



THE CANARY. 151 

dovv, with the sash down about one foot, and a draught 
of air running through or by the cage fit to turn a 
windmill. Thus they are frequently exposed for se- 
veral hours late in the evening, when going to roost, 
Avithout any consideration whether the air be damp, 
cold, or dry. In this manner many a fine bird is en- 
dangered, if not killed, by taking cold, which often 
proves incurable. 

When birds are in good health, and lively, their 
feathers will appear and feel sleek and smooth, ad- 
hering close to their bodies. Whenever you perceive 
the reverse of this, and the birds are sitting dull and 
bunchy, rely on it something is out of order. There- 
fore, first consider the season or time of year ; if 
moulting is approaching, or if any thing has worried 
or frightened the bird ; if he has been hung up in a 
draught of air and taken cold ; if he is suffering from 
neither of these causes, see if he can get at his water 
and seed, and that both are sweet ; good seed always 
appears clear and glossy, and feels dry and hard ; if 
there is no fault here, examine his body, blow up the 
feathers of his belly, see if his bowels look swelled or 
inflamed, and if so, it is symptomatic of a surfeit. 
If he appears lean and out of condition, look narrow- 
ly for vermin about his body, and examine well his 
cage for those small red mites which assail him at 
night when gone to roost, and frequently are the cause 
of his picking and plucking himself so much by day. 
Likewise, such is the susceptibility of the canary 
finch through delicate breeding, above all other 
finches, that frequently you will cause him to begin 
to moult, if the place or room should be close or 



152 THE CANARY. 

warm, compared with what he has been accustomed 
to ; and a change from a warm room to a cold one 
will make him bunchy and dull, and stop his singing. 
In purchasing a bird, careful inquiry should be made 
as to the quarter from which he came, and the tem- 
perature to which he was accustomed. If a stock 
cage has been used, the greatest caution is necessary 
in removing the bird to an open one. It need not 
surprise any one if he should appear dull and sulky 
when removed from light and cheerful company, to a 
dull and lonely situation, but a short time will in ge- 
neral restore him to his wonted spirits. 

Cleanliness, good seed and fresh water, frequently 
renewed, are all that are required for a bird in good 
health. Green food is not absolutely indispensable 
for a bird kept merely for song. It however may 
always be given to them as a luxury, and in spring it 
operates as a medicine. It cleanses the bowels, cools 
and purifies the blood, and a leaf of lettuce or a sprig 
of water-cress may be at once useful and ornamental 
on the top of the cage. A plentiful supply of green 
food should be allowed them in the breeding season, 
but unless cMclcweed is quite ripe, it does them more 
harm than good. A stick of good ripe seedy plan- 
tain is an excellent thing for them in autumn, but it 
should not be given to them if green, and all the un- 
dergrown part should be thrown away. 

Surfeit is tlie most serious malady with which ca- 
naries are affected. It is principally occasioned ei- 
ther by cold or improper diet. It is frequently to be 
met with in a whole nest, owing to the young ones 
having been furnished with bad food, such as a bad 



THE CANARY. 153 

egg chopped up, dead stale greens left at the bottom 
of the cage, overgrown coarse unblown chickweed, 
and putrid water in the glasses. 

There are two symptoms of this distemper, exhib- 
ited as arising either from cold or overfeeding. In 
the first case, if, when blowing up the feathers of the 
belly, it appears swelled, transparent, and full of little 
red veins, together with the bowels sinking down to 
its extreme parts, it may be inferred that the bird is 
in a bad state. In this case the state of the bowels 
should be carefully attended to. If they are not 
loose, some gritts should be given in the seed, and a 
blade of saffron in the water, or as much magnesia 
as will cover a sixpence, dissolved in the water, for 
two or three mornings, and a little bread and milk, 
with a sprinkling of maw seed upon it. If he should 
be very relaxed, give him, instead of gritts or oatmeal, 
a little bruised hemp seed and maw seed, which are 
more binding, and a little dried sponge biscuit, soaked 
in white wine. When the surfeit seizes your birds 
in the nest, it is then incurable. This evil may be 
prevented by a little attention ; always considering 
that as birds have not miles to fly in quest of their 
food, they have not that air and exercise to carry off 
the foul humors which overfeeding, carelessness, 
and colds produce ; and they are generally young 
birds that are affected in this manner. 

In birds one, two, or three years old, surfeit is 
sometimes also produced by too much gross feeding, 
greens out of season, bad water, and want of gravel 
at the bottom of the cage. At this age, the disease 
comes out in scabs, and humors about the head, bill, 
11 



154 THE CANARY. 

and eyes, and the running of the humor is so sharp 
and hot, that it will take the feathers off wherever it 
spreads over the bodies, and even affect the eyes to 
blindness. To cure and stop this, put the bird im- 
mediately upon a cooling, purging diet; take away 
all the canary seed, and let him have only rape seed 
with some gritts bruised among it, which will cool 
and scour him out ; afterwards anoint the head, or 
the parts where the feathers have come off, with fresh 
good hog's lard, or the oil of sweet almonds, two or 
three times before roosting time. This treatment 
will check the disorder. Keep the bird upon this diet 
until he is purged well, w^hich w^ill make him thin 
and lean ; and when you have conquered the mala- 
dy, return to the rape and canary mixed ; but such 
is the virulence of the disease, if it attack the eyes, 
or settle there, in most cases, the sight cannot be 
saved. Some persons recommend a strong solution 
of salt and water, to wash the head and parts where 
the feathers have come off. After you have cured 
your birds, they will look rough and most miserable 
in feather till they have passed the moulting season. 
The husk is produced by cold. It is similar in birds 
to a dry husky cough, constantly troubling them, and 
when once caught is not easily cured ; therefore 
strict attention, and that immediately, is necessary ; 
keep the birds in a warm room, and give them some 
linseed with their rape and canary for some time, 
and for a few mornings a small quantity of boiled 
milk and bread, with maw seed sprinkled over it. — 
Fresh water every day is indispensable, and a little 
sugar candy dissolved in it, or a piece of sponge bis. 



THE CANARY. 156 

cuit soaked in white or canary wine, is found to have 
the happiest effects. These means, with a little care 
and attention, are all that can be employed with any 
prospect of successful result. In buying birds, care 
should be taken that they are not tainted with this 
malady ; and in bringing them home, they should not 
be hung up where they are exposed to any draught of 
air ; in such a situation, it is very apt to be brought on. 
Excessive perspiration is a disease that arises from 
various causes, of which weakness is the principal. 
It is an almost insuperable concomitant if the hen 
has been weakly bred ; but it also frequently arises 
from the close and confined situation of the breeding 
cage, over-heat, a warm season, anxiety and exces- 
sive care, with too close sitting upon the eggs or 
young; all have a tendency to bring it on. If it 
arises from the latter cause, little can be done, as in 
attempting to remedy one evil another may be crea- 
ted. In using endeavors to induce her to leave her 
nest, she may be led to forsake her young. Both 
time and policy are required in the invention and 
employment of many little artifices, to wile her away 
from her pleasing but perilous task. In her situation 
air and exercise are indispensable requisites, and to 
entice her off the nest, the cock should be removed 
for a few days, and hung up in her sight at a short 
distance ; she should be supplied with abundance of 
green food, to tempt her off the young ones for the 
purpose of feeding them; and in consequence she will 
have the privilege of air and exercise in the perfor- 
mance of her duty. When she appears duly occupied 
with maternal cares, her mate may be restored ; and 



156 THE CANARY. 

even although she should not, he must be restored for 
the sake of feeding the young. 

Weakness may at once be inferred, when it is ex- 
hibited by the symptoms of damp and ruffled feathers 
before the hen has had eggs or young ones. It is not 
advisable to breed with birds of this kind. To cure 
this malady, in these circumstances, the bird is some- 
times washed with a solution of salt and water for 
several mornings, the breeding cage is removed to a 
more airy situation, all draughts again are avoided, 
and a few drops of sherry are at other times sprink- 
led over them in the morning ; after which they 
are set in the sun to dry. 

It is doubted much whether any such thing as the 
pip exists, from the wren to the goose. A small pro- 
jection on the rump is found, which some writers tell 
us nature has giveh them, furnished with an oily sub- 
stance, to trim and keep their feathers in glossy or- 
der. Many persons, on seeing this natural promi- 
nency, think immediately the bird has got the pip, 
when with a pin they hastily make an incision in the 
projection, and force out all that which is of service 
to the birds ; and through this received error, many 
a fine bird has been killed. If you should at any 
time perceive an extra bladder of matter forming 
round or close by the original spot, then you may 
prick that inflamed part with a fine needle, and put 
on it one drop of the oil of almonds or fresh salad 
oil. The true cause of this appearance is, sometimes 
your bird will be out of health, set bunchy and twitch 
in his tail frequently ; when that is the case, see if 
his motions be hard, and if so, give him some oatmeal 



THE CANARY. 157 

bruised, and a sprig of water cress for a few mornings 
to cool and open the body ; change his seed for a few 
days, and put one or two drops of the spirit of nitre 
into his fresh water for two or three mornings ; some 
persons will recommend a feather or two to be pull- 
ed out of the tail, but I do not ; only draw a tail fea- 
ther or two, in case of a fit, or dropping down appa- 
rently dead, as that will fetch blood, and sometimes 
recover the bird. 

The complaint o^ egg -hound proceeds from cold, 
and especially the coldness of the spring weather, 
which is so very uncertain in this country ; there, 
fore, it is best not to put your birds up too early, but 
to wait till the weather is settled a little : the last 
week of the March month is generall}^ early enough 
to put them into the breeding cage. Cold weather 
likewise causes the birds to have soft eggs, that is, no 
hard shell when laid. Therefore, begin not too early, 
especially as a room without any fire is the best ; 
give the bird a little moist sugar with the bread and 
egg, which will cause a slipperiness and openness for 
the egg. Should the hen be very bad, and scarcely 
able to move, or if she is down in a bunch at the bot- 
tom of the cage, take her gently out with a warm 
hand, and anoint the abdominal part with two or 
three drops of warm salad oil, or the oil of almonds. 
By this she will generally be relieved, and the egg 
will be found laid or dropped about the cage in the 
course of a few hours, or, at the farthest, by next 
morning. With a maiden hen this frequently hap- 
pens, and if the above means fail, the last resource is, 
to pour down her throat, through a reed or quill, one 
drop of castor oil. 



158 THE CANARY. 

Moulting sometimes exhibits a diseased type. — 
Birds bred up in the manner we have directed, in a 
good and healthy air, as near as possible to a state of 
nature, moult off strong, clean, and without any as- 
sistance, but at times even the best require attention. 
Cold is the greatest danger to which in this state 
they are exposed, therefore all draughts of air should 
be carefully guarded against. 

In itself it cannot be prevented, and when it hap- 
pens in the due course of nature it should be encour- 
aged rather than checked. Nature has, however, no 
object to borrow at times the helping hand of man to 
assist her feathered offspring in throwing off their 
glossy coats. The top and sides of the cage may be 
covered up with paper to keep the birds warm, and 
the cleaning of the cage may be omitted for two or 
three weeks. A little saffron in their water, a little 
nourishing bread, egg, or maw seed, will speedily 
clothe the birds in a plumage more beautiful than that 
in which they were. 

The covering of the cage should not be taken off 
all at once, but gradually ; it should then be cleaned 
thoroughly, and the birds fed as usual. Fresh water 
should be given to them every day plentifully, and 
they should be put in the sun for an hour or two if 
the weather is fine, when they will be seen assisting 
nature by plucking off their feathers. 

The first moult, which takes place when they are 
about three months old, is partial. The birds then 
throw off all their down and loose feathers, and pro- 
duce their full blooming plumage. The moult of Sep- 
tember is the general time of moulting for old birds. 



THE CANARY. 159 

'' All the young birds are put by the fancy canary 
amateurs and prize competitors in the stock cage, 
to produce a premature moult and silken plumage. In 
this there may be policy, but great imprudence, as 
from his removal from a glazed cage to an open one 
the bird is apt to catch cold, and from the mere change 
of temperature to droop and die. The hand that re- 
ceives the prize at a canary show is often doomed 
the same day to consign the successful competitor to 
the tomb — all arising from this stock-cage nursing. 
The tail and wing feathers are changed by all finches 
in the second year's moulting. On this account, 
those parts become lighter and brighter every year, 
and a fancy canary can even compete for a prize be- 
yond his first twelvemonth. Some birds are more 
nervous than other ; and sudden bustle or noise near 
the cage will frighten one, while not the slightest ef- 
fect is produced upon another. If a bird has dropped 
down in a fit without any apparent cause, some con- 
noisseurs pull a feather or tM'o out of the tail, or in- 
stantly plunge the bird into cold water. He is then 
restored to the cage and induced by every means to 
drink, and if he can be brought to take a single drop, 
he immediately recovers. After this, a drop of the 
spirits of nitre should be put into his water-glass for 
two or three mornings. Sometimes a canary will 
drop down by exhausting his strength, from singing 
in rivalry with another. In this case he should be 
recovered by the most gentle means, and the greatest 
good may be done by getting the smallest quantity of 
canary wine into his bill ; some persons try to reco- 
ver the goldfinch, when in a fit, by cutting the tip of 



16Q THE CANARY. 

the under claw, washing the legs in white wine, and 
giving a drop of wine in sugar to moisten the bill. — 
If birds have repeated fits, nothing better can be done 
than giving them frequently a little nitre in the wa- 
ter that they drink. 



APPENDIX. 



AMERICAN MOCKING-BIRD. 

The Mocking Bird, so justly celebrated for its vocal powcrs> 
is a native of America, and esteemed by every one who once 
hears him. Of himself he is all, breathing forth a concert of 
hundreds, of grove and field, shaming the originals into si- 
lence. At daylight, mid-day, and the live-long summer's night, 
his unceasing exertions demand applause. ^150 we have 
known to be refused for a favourite bird, so docile as to come 
at a whistle, perch on his owner's hand and head, and whilo 
there to warblo incessantly, 

«« The treatment of the Mocking Bird is not very peculiar 
or troublesome, requiring to be regularly fed every mornino- 
with Indian meal mixed among milk to a not very stiff paste. 
During Ihe season of whortleberries, they should be allowed 
a plentiful "supply in a small saucer; the same of cedar, elder, 
and poke-b rries, and wild cherries, in the months of October 
and November ; as these birds will never thrive without a 
great deal of natural food. An egg boiled hard and grated is ve- 
ry good occasionally; a smalj piece of raw minced beef is also 
of service ; during the summer season air is of benefit, but not 
in the sun ; a little water in a cup for washing, once a day, 
is of service ; but the greatest care is required when they aro 
moulting, which commences early in August, and continues 
till November ; then your bird should be kept quiet, and away 
from cold draughts of air, which are very injurious. Durino- 
the moulting season, supply your bird plentifully with berl 
r'lQS, spiders and grasshoppers, which are essential, especial- 
ly the former, as in their native woods they live mainly on in- 
sects. It is of importance your bird is fed and watered regu- 
larly every morning by eight o'clock ; for if fed one day early, 
another day late, and anotlier day forgot, your bird will losQ 
his spirit, and finally pine away,. 



162 APPENDIX. 

*' When this bird becomes sickly, it is necessary to treat him 
very kindly ; give him spiders daily, also rncal worms, which 
can be had in granaries ; and suffer as little disturbance as 
possible ; also put gravel on the bottom of the cage. 

" The male is known from the female by a regular lino of white 
feathers in the wing, which in a fine bird forms almost a regular 
curve from the shoulder to the tip of the wing. They are, 
however, after all, difficult to distinguish, as some of the finest 
birds, when young, have bQen irregularly marked ; they aro 
not completely plumed until they are two years old." 



THE ROBIN. 

Another favourite native of America, equally esteemed for 
its richness of song and delicacy of taste. A sprightly and 
beautiful bird. The plumage of the male is of a dark ashy 
grey, the head and tail black, with the breast of a bright ma. 
hogany red, the throat barred with white and black, and the 
eye of a piercing hazel, surrounded with a ring of white. 

Their treatment is precisely the same as the Mocking Bird, 
and in confinement their docility is surprising, coming in and 
out of the house, and following their owner., and may even be 
taught to repeat small pieces of music. Birds have been taught 
to whistle psalm tunes, as dull as old hundred, with metho- 
distical precision, and in confinement they possess a talent for 
mimicry, and readily acquire the pronunciation of distinct words. 
Some have been known to whistle tunes with such accuracy, 
that even eyes and ears were found necessary to convince the 
listener that it was not a flute. 



THE INDIGO BIRD. 

The Indigo Bird is a native of America of surpassing beau, 
ty. Its song is lively, unique and interesting, and given not 
only at early dawn, but during the intense heat of mid-day in 
summer, and again is frequently heard during a great part of 
the night, especially if it be moonlight. Its notes resemble 



APPENDIX. 163 

those of the Canary, and it may be kept in confinement on pre- 
cisely the same food as given to the adult birds of that species. 
The male of this species is a brilliant azure blue with a reflec- 
tion of green, the femalo'of a dingy yellow and olive brown, 
rather inclined to purple. It is sometimes called the Blue Lin- 
net, though in every way a distinct species from the true Amer- 
ican Linnet or Purple Finch (Fringilla Purpurea). During 
the spring season they may be given occasionally insects, and 
they are particularly fond of the leaves or tops of the common 
garden beet. They are frequently sold in our markets in the 
months of May and June, and are very social and delightful 
Bongsters. 



THE AMERICAN YELLOW-BIRD. 

A beautiful and constant resident, dreading neither the se- 
verity of winter nor the heat of summer, always cheerful and 
light-hearted ; it flies from field to field in company with its jo- 
cund companions ; it seems a fit emblem of happiness, when, on 
the wing, as it moves in continued rises and falls, its notes of con- 
versation are ever heard, and while setting on some lowly this- 
tle or devoted lettuce stock, it converses occasionally with low 
liquid voice to its more humble and less noticed mate. No bird 
is more familiar, and but for its destruction of house and gar- 
den seeds, would be a universal favourite. 

When trapped, they soon become familiar in the cage, and 
their music rivals the sonorous whistle of the canary, and is 
scarcely surpassed by it. They at times gradually elevate and 
lower their notes in the most delightful manner ; bursting in 
an instant into overpowering melody, then dying away in a 
fairy.like strain, until it seems lost in the distance, then reviv- 
ing with redoubled strength, running at once into the loudest 
fife of the Canary. They are very hardy and will bear consi- 
derable cold. Every sunny day should see their cage hung out, 
as air and sun-light are necessary to the health of this delight- 
ful bird; a saucer of water should be kept constantly in the 
cage, which should be well gravelled, as he is particularly fond 
of bathing. They are fond of rich and oily seeds, and should 



164 APPENDIX. 

bo reared on yellow canary, millet and homp, 1^ of tho latter r 
a littJc sunflower and lottuco see(]s occasionully criven 
thoni would be quite an addition to their fare. Tliey are very 
fond of the leaves ot t]\e Lr^irden beet and salad, which should 
be occasionally ted to them, Apple should bo given occasion- 
ally. The male is of a brUliant chronic yellow, with the crown 
of the head, winors and tail glossy black, tlie two latter edged 
with while, the female is of a dark, colour, and may readily bo 
distinguished. 



THE n RPLE FINCH, OR LINNET. 

A native bird of considerable pretensions to musical skill ; 
in truth a delightiul songster, very far superior to tho Canary. 
They winter in Pennsylvania, and about tlie 1st of I\Iay retiro 
to tho Morth to breed. They tly in vast lloeks, and aretaken in 
ti'ap cages, and sold at high prices under the name of Linnets^ 
They very scon become familiar, but sometimes retuse to sing 
in confmement. From an excellent work on Ornithology, wo 
copy the following notice of their musical powers; and in no 
way does it exceed the reality. 

•' The song of this beautilul Finch is, indeed, much finer than 
that of the Canary, the notes are remarkablv clear and mellow, 
and tho trilling sweet and various, particularly on their first 
arrival. At times the warble is scarcch' audible, and appears 
at a distance ; it then by a tine crescendo bursts into loudness, 
and falls into an ecstacy of ardent and overpowering expres- 
sion : at such times the usual pauses of the song are forgotten, 
and like the varied lay of tho Nightingale, tho ravishing per- 
former, as if in serious emulation, seems to study every art to 
produce tho etiect of bnlliant and well contrasted harmony. 
The rapidity of his pertbrmance, and the prominent execution 
with which it is delivered, seem almost like the effort of a musical 
box, or fine-toned quietly-moving delicate strain of the organ." 

Canary, hemp, millet and suniiowcr seeds may be fed to 
them ; of the latter they are very fond. Juniper and cedar ber^ 
lies should be given them occasionally through tho wiutei-;, 
galjjdand beet tops also during the summer.. 



